Simon’s Blog

You’ve probably seen the news already.  Sun Microsystems is to acquire MySQL AB (the company behind the MySQL database) for $1B.   I’d been expecting MySQL to IPO this year, so it came out of the blue to me. This looks like a potentially great outcome for everyone involved.

It certainly looks like a great outcome for one the main VC investors in MySQL, Index Ventures (disclosure, one my business partners works for Index).  This is the second billion dollar European software company Index has helped build recently (the previous one being Skype).   Great stuff indeed!

It also looks like a great outcome for the founders, management team and employees at MySQL AB.  They should do more than “OK” out of this transaction. $1B is a superb valuation to achieve for employees in this kind of VC-backed company because share options over even a small percentage of the company are worth having at this level.   And for regular employees, it’s good news because the new owner will want to see MySQL grow, not shrink (which could easily have been the case if other companies had bought it).

Finally, it’s also a potentially great move for Sun Microsystems.  They now have their own database… and not just any database - one of the databases that is perceived as being an important player.    People will no doubt argue about whether this was a defensive move on Sun’s part; but the truth is, this opens up some rather interesting opportunities for Sun, and for Sun’s customers…