Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:JAVA) grew billings nearly 4 percent year over year in total software, open storage, Solaris-based SPARC CMT servers and X64 servers during its third fiscal quarter, but that was not enough to stop revenue from dropping 20 percent compared with the same period last year.

Revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 also fell short of analysts estimates, coming in at $2.61 billion, down from $3.27 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2008, and from $3.22 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2009. Sun has also seen a decrease of 2.2 percentage points in total gross margin as a percent of revenue.

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Sun posted a net loss of $201 million, or 27 cents a share, compared with a loss of $34 million, or 4 cents a share, for the same period last year, and a net loss of $209 million in the most recent sequential quarter.

Sun, which was once known for “creating technologies that power the global marketplace,” entered into a definitive agreement on April 20 to be acquired by Oracle for $9.50 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of Sun's cash and debt.

Sun canceled the customary conference call for financial analysts and investors.