Merger control: Commission clears proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle
- Sweden
- 01/29/2010
- Roschier, Attorneys Ltd. - Sweden
The Commission cleared the proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle, subject to conditions. Sun, of the US, is a hardware and software vendor that offers computing infrastructure, including server and storage solutions, middleware and database software. Oracle, also of the US, is a database and application software company active in the development, manufacture and distribution of company software, including middleware, database software and business application software.
On 3 September 2009, the Commission opened an in-depth investigation into the proposed acquisition, in which investigation the Commission assessed whether the acquisition of the world’s leading open source database MySQL by Oracle, the leading proprietary database vendor, would lead to a significant impediment of effective competition within the EEA. After the in-depth investigation, the Commission found that although MySQL and Oracle compete in certain parts of the database market, they are not close competitors in others, such as the high-end segment. The Commission also examined other possible impacts of the proposed acquisition, including the potential impact of Oracle’s acquisition of the intellectual property rights connected to the Java development platform and potential effects of the acquisition on the market for middleware.
The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would not significantly impede effective competition in the EEA or in any substantial part thereof. Source: Commission Press Release 21/1/2010
