Business Case Studies, Leadership Case Study, Tata Group,Ratan Tata

Code : COM0032

Year : 2004

Industry : Information Technology and IT Enabled Services

Region : USA

Teaching Note:Not Available

Structured Assignment :Not Available

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Introduction:On 2nd April, Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer agreed to settle all outstanding litigation and entered into a technology-sharing agreement after a year of discussions and six weeks of intense negotiations, bought in a surprise deal where in Microsoft paid $2 billion to Sun that put an end to the rivalry.

Microsoft and Sun had had an antagonistic relationship for almost two decades.

Sun was an instigator of the sweeping government antitrust cases against Microsoft in the US and Europe. While several common problems faced by the two companies inspired the deal, and aimed at peace, some believed that the truce would be short lived.