Sun-Oracle Deal Getting Probed by the EU

Oracle announced its acquisition of Sun Microsystems in the second half of April. Approved by shareholders in July and the Department of Justice in August, the EU was to be the last to sign off on the deal. However, the New York Times reports that the European Union's competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, has said the deal could restrict competition in the already “highly concentrated” market for databases. Kroes today announced that the EU would be investigating the $7.4 billion deal.

Kroes said EU regulators must very carefully examine the effects on competition in Europe when "the world’s leading proprietary database company proposes to take over the world’s leading open-source database company,” and went on to say that the investigation would examine whether customers of the two technology giants “would not face reduced choice or higher prices as a result of this takeover.”

Do you think Oracle's acquisition of Sun represents some genuine antitrust concerns? Let us know in the comments below!

Read the full story on NYT.

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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.

24 Comments Comment from the forums

I'm wary of the loss of openoffice and free jre and jdk software I rely on.
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alikum

Unless EU imposes a strict rule, we may see an end to the free MySQL.
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I hadn't thought about it before, but the EU has an excellent point. Sun has given quite a bit back to the open source community, I'm not sure what intentions Oracle has.
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Wow, the EU sure likes to do some good ol' probing, don't they. Still, I would hate to see this go through if it means the end of free OOffice and mysql.
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webbwbb

I actually like it. Oracle does offer some expensive software but don't forget that they also offer the free, open-source Berkley database engine. Both companies have some great resources and I would love to see how Oracle could optimize the Sun offerings.
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Montezuma

Members of the EU would probe their own mothers if they thought it would net them a quick dime.
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zachary k

when did the EU turn into world police?
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sceen311

getting probed is never fun : (
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geminireaper

Im so sick of the EU and then sticking there nose in American company business. They are funding the EUs failing economy with US dollars from our companies. I say all our companies to pull out of the EU and laugh as it collapses in on itself.
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falchard

I think the best option is to stop doing business in the EU. Too much regulation and countries trying to take all your money.
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