[hinkley]

It would have made so much more sense to sell to IBM though, and I don’t even like IBM. I respected their R&D at the time, but their global services division is a blight on society.

I can’t recall, did the feds block that option?

[toyg]

IBM was only interested in Java and lowballed the price.

Oracle was interested in hardware too, and offered more money.

IIRC, reports were that IBM negotiated the price down with a stinky "who else is ever going to buy you" attitude, and were blindsided once Ellison came into the picture offering more cash.