Sun Microsystems to acquire MySQL for $1 billion

16 January 2008

New Delhi / Santa Clara, Calif: Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced having entered entered in to an agreement to acquire open source icon and developer of one of the world's fastest growing open source databases MySQL AB,  in a deal valued at $1 billion.

Sun will pay approximately $800 million in cash for all of MySQL's stock and assume about $200 million in options.

The transaction is expected to close late during the third or early fourth quarter of Sun's fiscal 2008 and add to its operating income in fiscal 2010. The company hopes to accelerate its position in enterprise IT to now include the $15 billion database market.

Following completion of the proposed transaction, MySQL will be integrated into Sun's software, sales and service units, while CEO Marten Mickos will joining Sun's senior executive leadership team. Till then a joint team with representatives from both companies will develop integration plans.

Sun says sees enormous synergies with the acquisition of MySQL.. With the huge global deployments including Facebook, Google, Nokia, Baidu and China Mobile, "MySQL will bring synergies to Sun that will change the landscape of the software industry by driving new adoption of MySQL's open source database in more traditional applications and enterprises."

The integration with Sun will extend the commercial appeal of MySQL's offerings and improve its value proposition with the addition of Sun's global services capability. MySQL will also gain new distribution through Sun's channels including its OEM relationships with Intel, IBM and Dell.