SAN FRANCISCO — Sun Microsystems’ deal to buy open-source software company MySQL AB for $1 billion deepens Sun’s bet that its road to prosperity lies in distributing free software that generates hefty maintenance fees and could sell more servers.
The acquisition, announced before the market opened Wednesday, gives Santa Clara-based Sun a foothold in the rapidly expanding market for database software for Web- based companies.
MySQL’s software is used by some of the world’s biggest websites to archive and retrieve information, and with people creating more Web content every day, demand for those services is quickly growing.
Sun, in a separate announcement, also pre-announced second-quarter revenue that would narrowly exceed Wall Street estimates.
Profit during the quarter would fall at the high end of analysts’ expectations, Sun said.
Sun is paying $800 million in cash and assuming $200 million in options to acquire MySQL. The Swedish company makes open- source database software used by companies such as online search leader Google Inc., popular Internet hangout Facebook Inc. and Finnish phonemaker Nokia.
