The combination of global titans IBM and Sun could be the most expensive ever acquisition in tech history, but according one analyst, this could also be the messiest.

Forrester Research analyst James Staten, quoted in Forbes report, said IBM could lay off as much as a third of Sun's staff to eliminate redundancies. This would make for a staggering total of more than 10,000 job cuts.

This deal is definitely going to lead to a lot of combined layoffs, predicts Staten. And it wouldn’t be a surprise if most of that bloodletting happened on the Sun side.

With significant overlaps in the companies' businesses, it will definitely take a hard look at Sun's costs. In addition that, IBM stands to emerge profitable given the low price being offering for Sun.

There's going to be pressure on IBM to make this acquisition accretive as quickly as possible, a mergers and acquisition banker with Revolution Partners Peter Falvey said.

As The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, IBM cut its bid for Sun Microsystems Inc to an offering price ranging $9 to $10 a share from $10 to $11 a share last month.

Sun shares rose 16 cents to 1.95% at $8.37. It has about $2.7 billion in cash and short term assets. That means that IBM's bill for Sun's less liquid assets is, all things considered, modest.

IBM shares rose 33 cents or 0.33% at $101.15 at the New York Stock Exchange trading.

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