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New Deadline Set for EU to Rule on Sun-Oracle Merger Ruling Extended Eight Days at Oracle's Request
European Union (EU) regulators extended the deadline for their final decision on Oracle's plans to buy Sun by eight days. Announced on November 20, this extension was set in place to satisfy a request made by Oracle, which is building its rebuttal to the European Commission's Statement of Objections issued on November 9 opposing Sun's acquisition by Oracle. "Oracle requested the extension in order to have the opportunity to further develop its arguments in response to the (European) Commission's concerns," the EU's Executive Commission said in a daily list of planned mergers under review, reported Reuters. The Commission has pushed back its deadline to January 27, 2010, from the original January 19th deadline set back in September. Oracle said in a statement that the review had been extended to "accommodate" the Nov. 26 U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. The commission postponed a hearing on the matter that had been scheduled for next week. In September, the EC began an in-depth investigation into Oracle's proposed $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun. At that time, a January 19th deadline was set for the EC to make a final decision on whether to sanction the move or propose some modifications. Then, in early November a Statement of Objections was released by the Commission. Spokesman Jonathan Todd clarified the Commission's stance on November 10, reporting it takes issue with the fact that Oracle is the leading proprietary database vendor and MySQL is the leading open source vendor "and a particularly important force in the market now ... Despite MySQL being open source, Oracle would be the exclusive holder of copyright on the MySQL code, making it hard for competitors to do what they want with it." Following the Commission's objections, Oracle stated that its "acquisition of Sun is essential for competition in the high end server market, for revitalizing SPARC and Solaris and for strengthening the Java development platform. The transaction does not threaten to reduce competition in the slightest, including in the database market.... The database market is intensely competitive with at least eight strong players, including IBM, Microsoft, Sybase and three distinct open source vendors. Oracle and MySQL are very different database products. There is no basis in European law for objecting to a merger of two among eight firms selling differentiated products. Mergers like this occur regularly and have not been prohibited by United States or European regulators in decades." Oracle has refused to compromise on MySQL, an asset that analysts say will help the world's No. 2 business software maker expand into new markets. Sun's open source MySQL database, while minuscule in revenue terms, is important to Oracle because it can help the company expand into other markets and improve its competitive edge against arch-rival Microsoft Corp, analysts have said, according to Reuters. "Oracle's install base represents the Old World -- the existing enterprise application space. There is a whole New World that Oracle hasn't been able to capture," said Marten Mickos, a former chief executive of MySQL. Oracle has clearly stated it "plans to vigorously oppose the Commission's Statement of Objections ... Given the lack of any credible theory or evidence of competitive harm, we are confident we will ultimately obtain unconditional clearance of the transaction." More Information
U.S. Senators Urge EU to Expedite Probe European Commission Objects to Oracle's Acquisition of Sun Oracle President Meets with EU Competition Commissioner MySQL Founder Writes to EU Regarding Sun-Oracle Merger European Commission Launches Investigation into Oracle-Sun Deal US Justice Department Approves Oracle's Acquisition of Sun Sun-Oracle Deal Scrutinized by European and US Regulators In-depth Analysis on the Impact of the Oracle-Sun Merger Sun Stockholders Approve Oracle Acquisition
Sun to be Acquired by Oracle
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Oracle requested the extension in order to have the opportunity to further develop its arguments in response to the (European) Commission's concerns. 
New Deadline Set for EU to Rule on Sun-Oracle Merger
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