Sun shareholders approve Oracle takeover

(By Philip Carnelley, Sun 19 Jul 2009, 15:00) A majority (62%) of Sun’s shareholders have approved its takeover by Oracle. The deal still needs regulatory approval, but is surely all but settled now. The strategic aspect is surely the most important for Oracle, with control of Java strengthening its market position. But additionally, Sun brings to Oracle a sizeable services business (and some software): in the UK the incremental business would just tip Oracle over the psychologically important marker of £1b in revenues from the UK market. However, the takeover won’t change Oracle’s overall ranking in the UK SITS market. In our recent CompanyViews report, we ranked Oracle in 10th spot with £820m, and Sun adds £185m. This halves the gap to next-placed CSC, which had £1235m. In our IT services rankings, the addition of Sun moves Oracle up quite a way, from number 37 to 24. Oracle will remain number 2 in software.

On another front, we now look forward to seeing what Oracle intends to do with Sun’s hardware business. HP isn’t waiting: it’s launched a marketing push to tempt Sun customers onto its platforms – saying, rather strangely, “We’ve Got Your Back” (see here). Perhaps it makes sense to Americans?