Monday, November 9, 2009

DoJ Reacts To EC On Oracle Deal

U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Molly Boast Monday reiterated the Justice Department's view that Oracle's proposed purchase of Sun Microsystems is unlikely to be anticompetitive even though the European Commission has objected to the deal. "After conducting a careful investigation of the proposed transaction between Oracle and Sun, the department's antitrust division concluded that the merger is unlikely to be anticompetitive," Boast said in a statement. "At this point in its process, it appears that the EC holds a different view. We remain hopeful that the parties and the EC will reach a speedy resolution that benefits consumers in the commission's jurisdiction."

Oracle acknowledged in a news release that the commission, the European Union's regulatory arm, has objected to the deal and is seeking more information regarding the acquisition. The commission is apparently concerned that combining Sun's MySQL database product with Oracle's products could harm competition in the database market, according to Oracle and various news sources. The Justice Department approved the Oracle-Sun deal without conditions in August. Boast said her department's approval of the deal was based on several factors. "The division concluded, based on the specific facts at issue in the transaction, that consumer harm is unlikely because customers would continue to have choices from a variety of well established and widely accepted database products," she said.

Noting that there are at least eight "strong players" in the database market, Oracle said "there is no basis in European law for objecting to a merger of two among eight firms selling differentiated products." The business software maker said it plans to "vigorously oppose" the commission's statement of objections and predicted its merger with Sun will ultimately be approved without conditions.