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Title: Aruba Acquired for $4.2 Billion Post by: AP on June 30, 2005, 10:56:06 AM ORANJESTAD (AP) -- Consider a move to a desert island if you’re looking to trade in that windblown Midwest bungalow. The cactus studded island of Aruba was purchased on Thursday in a joint acquisition by billionaires Bill Gates, and Larry Ellison in a deal that the Netherlands called “timely”, and which netted the Dutch government a cool $4.2 billion. Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) were unchanged at $25.09 in early trading, while Oracle (ORCL) lost $0.20 per share, or 1.47%.
Speculation that the island of Aruba would be split into a configuration similar to that of St. Maarten / St. Martin notwithstanding, holiday travelers are expected to benefit by “a reasonable rule of law”, a spokesman for the consortium said. “Aruba is under new management,” said Wallace “Wally” Clever, “and that can only be an improvement.” Title: Aruba Acquired for $4.2 Billion Post by: meltorme on June 30, 2005, 04:36:45 PM Is this verified?
I can't seem to find anything on the purchase. |