Oracle buys out Sun Microsystems for $9.50 a share

Oracle agrees to acquire Sun Microsystems for $9.50 a share SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 20, 2009 -- Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) and Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) announced today they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun common stock 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 Oracle Corp. announced a deal to buy Sun Microsystems Inc. for $7.4 billion, a surprise union of software and hardware companies that emerged following failed talks for International Business Machines Corp. to buy Sun. Oracle, which has been snapping up smaller software companies for several years, agreed to pay $9.50 a share for Sun. The companies valued the transaction at about $5.6 billion, excluding Sun's cash and debt. As of Dec. 28, Sun had about $2.6 billion in cash and short-term investments and about $700 million in long-term debt. [ad#linkunit1] IBM is "highly unlikely" to reenter the bidding for Sun, according to people familiar with the matter. "The acquisition of Sun transforms the IT industry, combining best-in-class enterprise software and mission-critical computing systems," said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. "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." There are substantial long-term strategic customer advantages to Oracle owning two key Sun software assets: Java and Solaris. Java is one of the computer industry's best-known brands and most widely deployed technologies, and it is the most important software Oracle has ever acquired. Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle's fastest growing business, 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. The Sun Solaris operating system is the leading platform for the Oracle database, Oracle's largest business, and has been for a long time. With the acquisition of Sun, Oracle can optimize the Oracle database for some of the unique, high-end features of Solaris. Oracle is as committed as ever to Linux and other open platforms and will continue to support and enhance our strong industry partnerships. "Oracle and Sun have been industry pioneers and close partners for more than 20 years," said Sun Chairman Scott McNealy. "This combination is a natural evolution of our relationship and will be an industry-defining event." About Oracle Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, please visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com. About Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) develops the technologies that power the global marketplace. Guided by a singular vision -- "The Network is the Computer" -- Sun drives network participation through shared innovation, community development and open source leadership. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://www.sun.com. source: sun.com