Ballmer clueless on Oracle acquisition

While industry analysts may not have been surprised at tech group Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer says he has no idea why the buyout occurred.

“I have no idea why a software company would buy a hardware company,” Ballmer said on Wednesday while speaking to the American Chamber of Commerce in Cairo, Egypt. He also said that Microsoft doesn’t “want to buy any hardware companies,” Reuters reports.

Ballmer also said that the company isn’t interested in acquiring Yahoo, not even with new chief executive Carol Bartz at the helm.

Information Week has claimed that Ballmer may be denying the importance of the deal, “simply looking to downplay the fact that the Sun deal will likely make Oracle a stronger player in the business software market”.

Some analysts have claimed that Oracle, which has previously produced only hardware, will now be able to compete with larger software makers after the acquisition to produce both programs and operating systems.

Sun Micro controls the Java computer language, which is programmed on millions of mobile phones and internet browsers worldwide.