The European Commission has issued regulatory approval for Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Inc. for $7.4 billion. Oracle announced the news Jan. 21, and revealed it also expects unconditional approval from China and Russia. It intends to close the transaction shortly. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has scheduled a live event set to take place January 27, to lay out the plans for combining the two companies and their products. Registration for the event, which will be broadcast globally, is currently underway.
Posts List on Website to Reassure EU, Customers, Developers, Users
Oracle has listed 10 promises on its Website in regards to maintaining MySQL when it acquires Sun. Oracle states that it has engaged in constructive discussions with the European Commission regarding the Oracle/Sun transaction, and in particular the maintenance of MySQL as a competitive force in the database market. It published this list of commitments in order to further reassure the Commission, customers, developers and users of its plans for MySQL.
Dec. 10 is the day Oracle will be presenting its case to European Union regulators on why it should be allowed to acquire Sun. The European Commission has objected to the $7 billion deal, saying the combination of Sun’s MySQL database product and Oracle’s products could hinder competition in the database market. This ruling has met with opposition from a variety of sources and galvanized letter writing campaigns urging the EU to reconsider its stance. The EC also announced on Nov. 30 that Neelie Kroes, the commission’s competition commissioner for the last five years, will be assigned to a new job. Kroes has been in charge of the investigation into Oracle’s proposed purchase of Sun.
Letter Cites Sun’s Precarious Financial Condition, Fears of More Layoffs A group of 59 U.S. senators sent a letter to the European Commission (EC) on Nov. 24 urging the European antitrust regulators to hurry their investigation into Oracle’s acquisition of Sun, citing the latter’s “precarious” financial condition and fears about more layoffs at the struggling computing company, reported AP Technology Writer Jordan Robertson.
European Union (EU) regulators extended the deadline for their final decision on Oracle’s plans to buy Sun by eight days. Announced on November 20, this extension was set in place to satisfy a request made by Oracle who is building its rebuttal to the European Commission’s Statement of Objections issued on November 9th opposing Sun’s acquisition by Oracle. The Commission said it has pushed back its deadline to January 27, 2010, from the original January 19 deadline set back in September.
The European Union (EU) confirmed that Oracle President Safra Catz met with EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes for negotiations over the company’s acquisition of Sun, which disclosed in a SEC filing this week that it plans on cutting up to 3,000 jobs due to the delay in the acquisition.
Urges Swift Approval to Ensure Database Market Remains Competitive
Former CEO of MySQL Marten Mickos has written a letter of appeal to Neelie Kroes, the European Union’s competition commissioner, urging that Oracle’s pending acquisition of Sun be approved for the good of the market and MySQL. “Every new day of uncertainty is potentially very harmful to the various businesses of Sun, reducing competition in the market,” Mickos writes. “A delay in the closing of this transaction is therefore only going to work against the respectable goal that you set out to achieve when launching the probe into this acquisition.”
Anyone interested in the Sun-Oracle merger should take an hour and a half to watch the replay of former Motorola and Sun executive Ed Zander’s interview of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, which took place September 21 before a gathering of industry dignitaries at the Churchill Club in San Jose, Calif. Ellison discusses his plans for Oracle and the various Sun technologies soon to be acquired when, or if, the European Union approves the buyout.
Discusses Acquistion Delay, Financials, Competition in Interview
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said he has no plans to spin off MySQL and expressed the urgent need to complete the $7.4 billion merger with Sun. Ellison made these remarks during an interview conducted by former Motorola and Sun executive Ed Zander before a gathering of industry dignitaries in San Jose, Calif., on September 21, reported InfoWorld’s Paul Krill. Ellison did say that Sun is losing about $100 million a month with the delay from European regulators on the buyout of Sun.
Competition Effects Within Database Market Called into Question
The European Commission will be taking an in-depth look at Oracle’s proposed $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun to ensure the database market remains competitive. The Commission, which is the European Union’s executive and regulatory branch, set a Jan. 19, 2010 deadline to make the decision on whether to sanction the move or propose some modifications. The focus is on whether Oracle will have the potential of building a dominant position by acquiring MySQL. Oracle is the market leader in proprietary databases, while Sun’s MySQL database product is the leading open-source database, the Commission said.
