Oracle Leverages the Board to Buy Agile

The following IntellectSpace Knowledge Map illustrates common connections between Oracle and Agile board members, and shows relationships of players who likely played key roles in the acquisition discussions.

For example, the Knowledge Map shows how Larry Ellison, Chairman of Oracle, shared a board seat with Gareth Chang on Apple's board who is also a board member of Agile (past board seats are denoted by dotted blue lines). 

Common relationships between Oracle and Agile also include university ties, particularly University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University, and Santa Clara University.  Lastly, the Knowledge Map reveals that Sun Microsystems and Flextronics connected two board members of Oracle with two board members of Agile. 

It is a good indicator for both parties in an acquisition to have deep board ties, because board synergies often translate to post-merger corporate synergies.

For an interactive version of this Knowledge Map, please reference the following URL using an Internet Explorer browser: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=977a7266-03bb-4a1f-85fb-467137442b13