The offering price was in the mid-$9-range, or approximately $7 billion, before the offer was lowered, according to the Wall Street Journal. The offer was withdrawn after Sun balked at the revised price and terms, according to the San Jose Mercury News, which cited a source that declined to characterize the deal as "dead."

Sun shares fell on the news Monday morning and at noontime were trading at $6.48, down 23% (-$2.02) on the day. IBM shares were off 1.4% (-$1.49) at $100.90.

Sun Micro Chief Executive Jonathan Schwartz is in favor of the deal while Sun's chairman and co-founder Scott McNealy is leading a group opposed to the deal. The breakdown in negotiations between was in part due to some in the Sun camp feeling that IBM had too much leeway to walk away from the deal, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Sun has a market cap of $4 billion and its last quarterly report shows it with upward of $2.6 billion in cash and securities. IBM has a market cap of $123 billion and nearly $13 billion in cash. A merger would create a single company with a real estate portfolio totaling approximately 38 million square feet, according to the companies' most recent annual reports.

IBM controls 25 million square feet around the globe while locally headquartered Sun Microsystems controls approximately 12.8 million square feet. Most both companies' portfolios are in the US--IBM's being weighted toward the East Coast and Sun's toward the West. IBM owns most of its facilities while Sun Microsystems leases most of its space.