It may be the boldest move yet by a company known for being audacious: Google is spending $12.5 billion to buy Motorola Mobility. But the big prize isn't Motorola's lineup of cellphones, computer tablets and cable set-top boxes.
Two analysts put out duelling research reports on Oracle Corp. Friday, with one upgrading the stock while the other downgraded it.
Oracle says a former Hewlett-Packard executive has been falsely accused of stealing trade secrets in one of several ongoing legal skirmishes between the two technology heavyweights.
Oracle says its net income rose 36 percent as new sales of business software were at the high end of its expectations. However, the company said revenue from computer servers dropped. Its stock fell.
A HARDWARE HEADACHE: Oracle Corp.'s stock slid Thursday after reporting a 6 percent revenue decline in the sale of computer servers and other hardware. The company has been facing intense competition from IBM Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. since entering the server business with last year's $7.3 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems.
Oracle Corp.'s latest quarterly numbers were marred by a pocket of weakness: Revenue from computer hardware, mainly servers, declined, disappointing investors who were expecting more. Oracle's overall numbers were stronger than expected, and its guidance was in line with analyst estimates, so the stock regained some of its lost ground.
Oracle Corp.'s latest quarterly results Thursday underscore the critical role its software business plays, despite the company's push to become a more well-rounded technology vendor by selling computer servers.
Hewlett-Packard Co. has sued its friend-turned-foe Oracle Corp. in another sign of how badly the relationship between the information technology big shots has frayed.
BEA Systems co-founder Alfred Chuang got rich licensing business software applications to companies that installed the programs on their own computers.
