Oracle buying Cerner, plus other business news in December 2021

On December 17, Oracle announced that the company is buying electronic medical records company Cerner for $28.3 billion. This deal is the biggest acquisition that Oracle has made ever, in the company's history. Oracle is an enterprise software giant, which is based in Austin, TX. As of December 20, Oracle had a market cap of $264 billion. Cerner is known as a supplier of Health IT services. The company is based in Kansas City, MO. Furthermore, Oracle is trying to move into the healthcare sector with the Cerner acquisition like Microsoft did. Microsoft did acquire Nuance Communications for $20 billion in April 2021. Nuance Communications is a speech recognition software company, which is based in Boston, MA. Salesforce is another huge software provider, that could make a push into the healthcare industry with a similar type of acquisition. Salesforce; Oracle; and Microsoft do compete in enterprise software for databases; customer relationship management; and in cloud computing. In addition, mergers and acquisitions topped $5 trillion for the first time ever in 2021. Mergers and acquisition activity was led by technology and health care, according to a report from Reuters. Back to Oracle, the company's stock price did drop by 4.87 points at the close of day after the merger news was announced. In contrast, Cerner's stock price went up by 0.72 points on December 20. Oracle's stock symbol is ORCL on new york stock exchange, and Cerner's stock symbol is CERN on the nasdaq stock exchange. In other business related news, the omicron variant of Covid-19 has brought the major stock exchanges to fluctuate in a negative direction. Stocks sold off today, and in recent days last week due to Omicron fears. The omicron variant is aggressively spreading into various parts of the world during the fall and winter seasons. From the Omicron fears, there is uncertainty of the variant bringing economic shutdown around the world. Some stocks like Zoom video and Netflix did rise, while most stocks did drop today in the three major stock indices. In closing, Oracle believes that their acquisition of Cerner will help the company push into the health cloud sector. This acquisition should give Oracle an advantage, and bring more healthcare clients to its cloud platform. Cerner's largest business and most important clinical system already runs on the Oracle database. Oracle sees this merger closing, or taking effect in the first three to six months of 2022. See the picture above of Cerner's company building. Good day!

Phoenix Suns win streak ends at 18 victories, and more stories around the NBA

In the 2020-2021 nba season, the Phoenix Suns lost in the NBA finals to the Milwaukee Bucks. This year, the Suns started at 1 win and 3 losses. Then, the team regrouped and went on an eighteen game win streak. But, the Suns lost to the Golden State Warriors on December 4 at the Chase Center. Next, the San Antonio Spurs upset the Warriors on December 4. Now, the Suns and the Warriors are tied for the best record in the Western Conference. Amongst other western conference teams, the Lakers are in sixth place in the standings. Lebron James wan injured, and he was suspended for an altercation with Isaiah Stewart from the Detroit Pistons. The Lakers are definitely struggling with injuries, and the inconsistent chemistry between Westbrook; Anthony Davis; LeBron James; Dwight Howard; Rajon Rondo; and Carmelo Anthony. Also, Lebron James had to deal with covid-19 protocols. James did test positive for Covid-19, yet he did have two negative tests that brought him back to playing on December 3. In contrast, the Eastern Conference has three solid contenders in Brooklyn; Chicago; and Milwaukee. Brooklyn is leading the East, even though Kyrie Irving has not played a single game. Since Irving does not want to get a single covid-19 vaccine, he is not allowed to play in any games. Will Kyrie get the covid-19 vaccine befoe the NBA season is over? Kevin Durant; James Harden; and other players seem to keep playing and finding a way to lead the Brooklyn Nets to victory. In Philadelphia, Ben Simmons has not played a single game this year for the 76ers. He continues to refuse to play, and he wants to be traded. One possible destination for Ben Simmons is the Oklahoma City Thunder. Like the LA Lakers, the 76ers are one win above .500. Doc Rivers and the team continue to have a tough time, with Ben Simmons trade request. Other contenders in the Eastern conference are the Chicago Bulls and the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks. The Utah Jazz are third in the Western Conference. The NBA season is close to 25-30% done, but it has been an exciting one for its 75th year. On Christmas Day, there will be five games scheduled to be shown on ESPN and ABC channels. Recently, the NBA is urging the players and coaches to get the Covid-19 booster shot. In closing, the Suns need to stop Golden State from winning the Western Conference title. The Warriors are led by Stephen Curry; Jordan Poole; Draymond Green at this time. Hope Klay Thompson comes back strong in January from his two year layoff. When Klay comes back, the Splash brothers tandem could be lethal again. Enjoy the picture above of Golden State's Juan Toscano-Anderson dunking against the Suns in their December 3 game. Peace!