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Excluding Wednesday’s increase, Sun’s stock has lost 68.3% of its value over the past 12 months – — shares of Sun Microsystems (nasdaq: JAVA – news - people ) rocketed 65.0%, or $3.23, to $8.20 – despite being based on media reports — and without comment from either company.
If the deal were to go through, it would represent a premium of 75.5% above the company’s $4.97 closing price on Tuesday, based on 744.71 million outstanding shares.
If the two companies ever reach a deal, it would be IBM’s largest-ever acquisition, and represent a departure from its recent strategy of focusing on deals to strengthen its software and services businesses, rather than hardware.
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