Takeover talk is nonsense- McNealy

MILAN: Rumors of a takeover bid for Sun Microsystems Inc are "nonsense" as no U.S. company could afford to buy the computer maker, said Sun CEO Scott McNealy. "It's been 21 years, ever since we were founded, that I've been hearing this kind of thing," McNealy told Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore in an interview.

"Sure, we are a public company, but we have a capitalisation of about $17 billion, then you'd have to come up with a 30 to 40 percent premium to make a bid for us. What U.S. company -- apart from a condemned monopoly -- has $25 billion in cash?" he said.

Shares in Sun gained more than 22 percent this month in what analysts said was a revival of long-running takeover speculation. A Sun spokeswoman said earlier this month the company would not comment on the price fluctuations.

© Reuters