Salesforce pitching to Oracle at $75 a share?

When Tom Foremski says he has a 'reliable source' you can be pretty sure he's in the know:

I'm hearing from a reliable source that Salesforce.com has approached Oracle to gauge if there is any interest in a sale at $75 a share. That would be almost a 50 per cent premium over Friday's close of $50.87.

Tom then goes on to spell out why the deal makes sense. This is an occasional topic of conversation among the Irregulars. We view Oracle as the only natural home for Salesforce.com, largely based on the cultural fit but also because Oracle doesn't have a big brand presence in the on-demand market.

A sticking point might be Larry Ellison's assertion that cloud computing isn't for Oracle at this time. At least that's what he said at the last earnings call. Nevertheless, Tom's succession argument that positions Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff as filling Larry's boots sounds persuasive. One wonders whether current Oracle president Charles Phillips might have something to say on that score, especially given his star status as industry consolidator.

Or it could all be an ugly rumor spread for the benefit of a press currently obsessed with the antics over at Microhoo.