Software
If the European Commission gives its consent tomorrow, Oracle may complete the transaction within 24 hours, Heather Bellini, an analyst with ISI Group in New York, said today in a note. Even if regulators want further scrutiny, the purchase may still close without conditions in 30 days, she said.
The Brussels-based commission, the antitrust authority for the 27-member EU, said in July it would either approve the deal by Sept. 3 or extend its investigation of the transaction by 90 working days. The U.S. Justice Department approved the acquisition last month.
The commission has focused its probe on Suns licensing of Java software, said Peter Alexiadis, an antitrust lawyer at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Brussels. For the commission to block the deal or begin an in-depth investigation, it must have “serious doubts” about competition, said Alexiadis, who doesnt work for either company. That means regulators must prove that Oracle will raise prices or change conditions for accessing programs such as Java, he said.
Dana Lengkeek, a spokeswoman for Santa Clara, California- based Sun, declined to comment. Deborah Hellinger, a spokeswoman for Oracle, didnt reply to an e-mail seeking comment.
Suns shareholders voted July 16 to accept Oracles offer. Oracle, based in Redwood City, California, announced plans to buy Sun in April, to gain the companys Java programming language and Solaris operating system. Oracle Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison said Java was the main reason behind his decision to buy Sun.
Java Developers
Oracle fell 12 cents to $21.82 at 2:08 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares had advanced 24 percent this year before today. Sun advanced 11 cents to $9.31.
More than 6 million developers use Java to develop applications on 800 million personal computers and 2.1 million mobile devices, according to Suns Web site. Oracle also writes all of its business-management and so-called middleware software on Java.
With the purchase, Oracle also gains Suns MySQL software, the worlds most popular open-source database. Open source means that the underlying code is available free online. Sun bought the program, which helps run Web sites such as Facebook and YouTube, for $1 billion last year.
The EU has sent out questionnaires to Europe-based software developers, asking how Oracle might use MySQL. The commission is unlikely to force Oracle to sell off the program, Alexiadis said.
Oracle trails Microsoft Corp. in overall software sales. Sun is the fourth-largest maker of server computers, shifting Oracle into the less-profitable hardware business.