Database and ERP giant Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL)
has emerged from the shadows as the company that will acquire Sun Microsystems
(NASDAQ:JAVA) in a deal worth $7.4 billion, or $9.50 per share, in cash. IBM
(NYSE:IBM) and Sun had been reported
to be in talks on a deal starting in March, but negotiations
fell apart over price.
Click
here to read what Oracle says the deal will mean to Sun and Oracle channel
partners.
“The acquisition of Sun transforms the IT industry, combining best-in-class
enterprise software and mission-critical computing systems,” says Oracle CEO
Larry Ellison, in a prepared statement. “Oracle will be the only company that
can engineer an integrated system—applications to disk—where all the pieces fit
and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves. Our customers
benefit as their systems integration costs go down while system performance,
reliability and security go up.”
In announcing the deal, Oracle pointed to two key Sun software assets: Java and
Solaris. Oracle has acquired software companies at a rapid pace over the past
several years, but Oracle states in the release announcing the Sun deal that
Java is “the most important software Oracle has ever acquired.” Oracle says
that its Oracle Fusion Middleware is its fastest growing business and is built
on top of Sun’s Java language and software.
“Oracle can now ensure continued innovation and investment in Java technology
for the benefit of customers and the Java community,” Oracle says in its formal
statement announcing the deal.
Oracle also notes that Sun’s Solaris operating system, a Unix OS, is the
leading platform for the Oracle database, which is Oracle’s largest business.
Oracle says Linux is the No. 2 OS for its database, and Oracle remains
committed to the Linux OS and other open platforms.
“This is a fantastic day for Sun’s customers, developers, partners and
employees across the globe, joining forces with the global leader in enterprise
software to drive innovation and value across every aspect of the technology
marketplace,” said Jonathan Schwartz, Sun’s CEO,
in a formal statement. “From the Java platform touching nearly every business
system on earth, powering billions of consumers on mobile handsets and consumer
electronics, to the convergence of storage, networking and computing driven by
the Solaris operating system and Sun’s SPARC and x64 systems. Together with
Oracle, we’ll drive the innovation pipeline to create compelling value to our customer
base and the marketplace.”
Oracle says the deal is worth $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of Sun’s cash
and debt.
Oracle President Safra Catz says Sun’s acquisition will contribute over $1.5
billion to Oracle’s non-GAAP operating profit in the first year, increasing to
$2 billion in the second year. Catz says that means Sun will be a more
profitable-per-share contribution in the first year than Oracle had planned for
the acquisitions of BEA, PeopleSoft and Siebel combined.