SAN JOSE, Calif. — Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison said the company is concerned about the delay in approval by European authorities of its planned takeover of Sun Microsystems.
The longer the European Commission takes, the more Sun loses, Ellison said this week at a technology-industry event. Sun is losing $100 million a month, and the delay is “not good for anyone,” he said.
Oracle is seeking European approval for its takeover of Sun, one of the last hurdles for the $7.4 billion acquisition announced in April. Earlier this month, the European Union said it’s taking a deeper look at the purchase because of “serious doubts” about competition in the database market. U.S. regulators approved the purchase last month.
Oracle, the world’s biggest database-software maker, would acquire Sun’s MySQL, the most popular open-source database program, in the deal. Open-source programs are distributed freely over the Internet. Sun makes money from MySQL by selling related services and software.
Oracle and MySQL don’t compete, and the company won’t spin off MySQL, Ellison said.
The plan is to save as many jobs as possible in the takeover, he said.
