Oracle on the verge of acquiring Sun Microsystems

The £4.5billion ($7.4bn) deal was agreed in April, however, the takeover has been delayed over questions about licensing Java, a language used in billions of electronic devices and one which Oracle would have control over. The buyout still needs approval from the European Commission before it can be concluded. And this could raise antitrust issues surrounding the deal, including the future of Sun's MtSQL database – an open source product it bought in 2008 for $1bn. The acquisition, which is expected to be finalised in a few weeks, will see Oracle strengthen its position against IBM, which abandoned its own attempts to buy Sun Microsystems earlier this year. Sun employs about 33,000 people, while Oracle's workforce totals 86,000.