] Last week, talk of a leveraged buyout surfaced after
] Edward J. Zander, the former president of Sun, joined the
] Silicon Valley investment firm Silver Lake Partners. A
] few years ago, Silver Lake led a successful buyout of
] another technology company, Seagate, a disk-drive maker.
]
] Despite the recent run on the stock, a bid for Sun does
] not appear imminent. First, unfriendly takeovers of big
] technology companies are rare because the risk of
] disruption is too high in an industry where success
] depends on speed and innovation. For now, at least, a bid
] for Sun would have to be a hostile one because Scott G.
] McNealy, Sun's chairman and chief executive, and the Sun
] board remain committed to the current strategy for
] reviving the company's fortunes, Sun executives said.
]
] Sun, like most companies, has a policy of not commenting
] on takeover rumors. But one Sun executive, who insisted
] on not being identified, said, "Scott, the senior
] management and the board are signed up for the next few
] years to give it a real run with the plan we have."