Risky Business

Sun made a profit in fiscal year 2007, which is something it did not do in FY 2006. If Sun is getting healthier as a company, is it because of Jonathan Schwartz's willingness to take risks?

There are, I suspect, more risks than we might think in being that rarity, a blogging CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Then there's open source Java, a long-delayed delivery that at times seemed to be causing Sun as much pain as Kane, the John Hurt character, experienced in Alien. But undeniably a move fraught with risk.

Last week, Sun's decision to work more closely with IBM was characterized as a risky move, risking a loss in hardware sales to boost Solaris adoption.

And a year ago, Sun was called daring for some of the decisions Schwartz was making, decisions that arguably have led to the past year's profitabilty.

You could supply other examples of the boldness of Sun in the Schwartz era. Although one good year (or is it really one good quarter?) doesn't prove anything, is it starting to look like the gambles are paying off?

Posted by Mike Swaine at 11:39 AM  Permalink