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Ritter says he’ll confer with Sun Microsystems execs about potential IBM merger
April 6, 2009 8:45 PM ET
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Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter will speak with Sun Microsystems Inc. officials about a potential merger with IBM Corp., but will not advise them for or against it, regardless of its effect on jobs in the state, he said Monday.

Ritter is in California’s Silicon Valley with a number of economic development and innovation officials, meeting with companies to learn more about how to improve the business environment for developing or attracting telecommunications firms to Colorado. As part of the trip, he plans to meet Tuesday with leaders of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Sun (NASDAQ: JAVA).

Sun and IBM (NYSE: IBM) each employ thousands in the Denver area — Sun in Broomfield and IBM in north Boulder.

Sun has been in talks with IBM about a potential merger that could prompt layoffs at Sun’s Broomfield campus. Those merger talks have neared collapse but remain ongoing, according to news reports Monday.

Ritter said he would talk to Sun officials about what is happening and about how the company can retain jobs in Colorado. Despite job retention and growth being a top priority of his administration this year, he will not weigh in on the matter, however, he said.

“It’ll just be a conversation we can have to hear them tell us what their plans are,” the Democratic governor said in a teleconference late Monday afternoon. “But we don’t feel it’s our role to tell them what to do.”

Don Elliman, director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, added that he is not sure that such a merger wouldn’t add to IBM’s presence in Colorado.

“It’s kind of a moving target here,” Elliman said. “In the aggregate, we feel pretty good.”

The two-day trip has a twofold purpose, Ritter said: To learn from successful companies about how to foster growth in the telecommunications industry and to talk to companies specifically about expanding in Colorado.

The Colorado team met with officials from Microsoft and Google Monday to understand how they grow their corporate functions in other states, he said.

It also met with venture capitalists specializing in telecommunications technology and with entrepreneurs who have developed start-up companies. Colorado officials asked about what kind of financing and what kind of business ecosystem were needed to foster such growth, he said.

Although Ritter did not report any new jobs, he did say that Silicon Valley leaders were impressed by Colorado’s TechStars program, in which successful tech companies mentor start-ups.

“Our purpose in making this trip (is one) we’ve accomplished already,” he said of spreading information about Colorado’s technology business atmosphere.

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