diff --git a/release-notes/VERSION b/release-notes/VERSION
index 0273681..f70bcb4 100644
--- a/release-notes/VERSION
+++ b/release-notes/VERSION
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ Project: jackson-datatype-guava
 === History: ===
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+2.4.7 (not released)
+
+#48: Avoid problems deserializing `null` for `Optional`
+
 2.4.6 (23-Apr-2015)
 
 #61: NPE serializing `Multimap`s with null values
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/datatype/guava/deser/GuavaOptionalDeserializer.java b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/datatype/guava/deser/GuavaOptionalDeserializer.java
index 5462b11..e03ddfe 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/datatype/guava/deser/GuavaOptionalDeserializer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/datatype/guava/deser/GuavaOptionalDeserializer.java
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ public Optional<?> deserialize(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext ctxt) throw
         } else {
             refd = _valueDeserializer.deserializeWithType(jp, ctxt, _valueTypeDeserializer);
         }
-        return Optional.of(refd);
+        return Optional.fromNullable(refd);
     }
 
     /* NOTE: usually should not need this method... but for some reason, it is needed here.
@@ -121,6 +121,6 @@ public Optional<?> deserializeWithType(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext ctx
             return deserialize(jp, ctxt);
         }
         // with type deserializer to use here? Looks like we get passed same one?
-        return Optional.of(typeDeserializer.deserializeTypedFromAny(jp, ctxt));
+        return Optional.fromNullable(typeDeserializer.deserializeTypedFromAny(jp, ctxt));
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file