14 DAY TRIAL // The long-delayed acquisition of Sun by Oracle may be finally going through after several setbacks and a mounting opposition campaign lead by MySQL's creator. All Things D now says that sources from both companies are claiming that EU regulators are very close to putting their seal of approval on the deal, even as early as tomorrow, clearing the last major hurdle in front of the proposed $7.4 billion acquisition.
The approval may still be pushed back to the January 27 deadline initially set by the European Union's Competition Commission, the regulators scrutinizing the deal, if the officials fail to reach a consensus at an earlier point. However, the approval is pretty much a sure thing after several months of delays and some concessions and pledges made by Oracle last month.
EU regulators have been doing a prolonged investigation on the deal concerned about the implications of Oracle taking over MySQL, the very popular open-source database system which is a direct competitor to some of the software giant's lucrative database products. Oracle finally relented and assured regulators that the future of MySQL is guaranteed even under its tutelage. While this wasn't enough to placate the open-source software's creator Michael “Monty” Widenius, it was apparently all the EU needed to hear.
With the last block removed, Oracle is making the finishing touches on its strategy for Sun, which involves some pretty deep layoffs, as is the norm with any Oracle acquisition. “The integration team have been working very hard to complete all of the planning and executives on both sides of the merger believe that deal will be approved,” a source told All Things D. “The majority of the hiring decisions have been made and the bulk of the product decisions and organization structure is completed.”
Apparently, three email announcements have been prepared, which will go out to all Sun employees after the deal goes through. The first one is the standard email announcement sent to the staff that get to keep their jobs. The second one is a bit grimmer, as it goes to the employees who will be forced to look for 'future prospects'. Finally, the third one is a bit of a Golden Ticket as it will go out to Sun execs who will be let go, but will get a rather generous cash payout in the process.