After that merger, both teams were required to make a similar change.
If I remember right, the Perl team was done before the Java team finished the design phase. Or something like that.
The best aspect of Java is that it is difficult to write extremely terrible code. The worst aspect is that it is difficult to write extremely awesome code. (If not impossible.)
The company using Perl was able to double its turnover in 3 weeks.
The company using Java was still in the design phase.
Companies choose their tools depending on their internal culture. The company using Perl at the time was simply more agile.
FWIW, the company that was using Perl is now using Java mostly. And yes, the culture of the company has changed. Not sure about cause and effect.
The TMTOWTDI argument was valid in very early stages of Perl vs Python debate, like some what between 2000 - 2006 etc.
These days Python is just Perl with mandatory tab indentation. Python is no longer that small language, with small set of syntactical features. C++/Java etc in the meanwhile have gotten even more TMTOWTDI heavy over the years.