Database giant Oracle to acquire Sun Microsystems

Database provider and business software maker Oracle said this morning that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Sun Microsystems in a deal worth about $7.4 billion.

Oracle said it will acquire all the outstanding stock of Sun for $9.50 per share in cash, representing a 42.1 percent premium from Friday's closing price of $6.69.

But after taking into account Sun Microsystem's cash and outstanding debt position, the deal's value is only $5.6 billion, both companies said.

On a per share basis, Oracle expects Sun to be accretive to its adjusted earnings by at least 15 cents in the first full year after closing the deal. The transaction is expected to close some time in late July or early August, Oracle added.

The world's largest commercial database maker said it expects Sun to contribute about $1.4 to $1.5 billion to its operating profit in 2009, and over $2 billion in 2010.

The news comes after Sun reportedly rejected a $7 billion buyout offer from IBM on April 2nd.

Oracle said it sees some strategic customer advantages to owning two of Sun's most popular software products: the programming language Java and the Solaris operating system.

Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's chief executive said "this is a fantastic day for Sun's customers, developers, system integrators, partners and employees across the planet. Joining forces with the global leader in enterprise software and database development to drive innovation and value across every aspect of the IT marketplace."

Oracle's CEO Larry Ellison said in a statement "the purchase of Sun Microsystems will transform the technology industry. Our customers benefit as their IT systems integration costs go down while system performance, reliability and security go up."