Oracle Corp’s planned $7.4 billion purchase of Sun Microsystems Inc may be blocked by European Union regulators because of concerns Oracle might be able to eliminate Sun’s MySQL database product as a competitor, according to an EU document.
Oracle would have “total control” over MySQL’s source code and intellectual property, the European Commission said in a document obtained by Bloomberg News. Oracle could change the terms of MySQL’s open-source licenses, restricting the ability of other companies to develop competing products.
“Oracle has strong incentives to adopt a commercial and technology strategy for MySQL which prevents it from cannibalising Oracle’s significant revenues from proprietary offerings,” the Brussels-based commission said in the so-called statement of objections.
The Sun takeover would move Oracle, the world’s second-largest software maker, into the market for server and storage computers, pitting the company against International Business Machines Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co. Oracle Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison said in September said that the commission’s delay in approving the deal is costing Sun $100 million a month.
The commission, which sent the complaint to Redwood City, California-based Oracle on November 9, outlined in the document its preliminary conclusions on why the deal will harm competition in the 27-nation EU. The US Justice department gave antitrust approval to the acquisition in August.
Gaye Hudson, an Oracle spokeswoman in the UK, and Deborah Hellinger, a spokeswoman in California, didn’t immediately respond to voicemail messages on their mobile phones. Jonathan Todd, a commission spokesman, declined to comment.
“The commission’s statement of objections reveals a profound misunderstanding of both database competition and open- source dynamics,” Oracle said in a statement on November 9. The products don’t “reduce competition in the slightest”.
The EU extended its deadline to rule in the case by six working days to January 27 after Oracle asked for more time to address antitrust concerns. EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said on November 11 that she is “optimistic” a settlement can be reached in the case.
Oracle told the commission that MySQL isn’t a competitive constraint because of the technical differences between its databases, which are designed for large companies’ back offices, while MySQL, which is based on freely distributed code, is an easy-to-use program for website developers, according to the document. Oracle’s main competitors are Microsoft Corp, IBM and Sybase Inc, the company told the commission.
In the document, the commission said it’s not convinced by Oracle’s arguments.
“Overall, MySQL is the most vigorous open-source competitor,” the regulator said in a 155-page statement of objections, which outlines the EU’s case against the merger. “In the overall market for databases it is among the four top database vendors. It is a leading and important database vendor, which exerts a significant competitive constraint on Oracle and other proprietary database vendors like Microsoft and IBM.”
MySQL’s market share is estimated by IDC, a research firm in Framingham, Massachusetts, at 0.2 per cent with $40 million in revenue in 2008.
