Oracle Set To Win Battle For MySQL

Oracle’s complicated eight-month-long mission to annex Sun Microsystems is finally coming to an end.

It’s not officially a done deal, but eWEEK has learned through knowledgeable sources that the standoff between Oracle and the antitrust regulators of the European Commission has been broken and that an agreement is probably imminent.

The Brussels-based EC, which serves as the law enforcement body of the 27-nation European Union, is due to make a decision no later than 27 January, 2010, about whether to sanction the acquisition, so that Oracle can acquire Sun and continue to do business in Europe as a full-service systems vendor.

The EC is likely to use most or all of that time before announcing its decision.

The major sticking point is an open-source database that Sun bought for $1 billion (£600m) two years ago: MySQL. The EC has been withholding its blessing on the deal since August 2009, ostensibly needing to be satisfied that MySQL will be allowed to innovate and compete fairly in the IT marketplace.

The assertion that Oracle’s own proprietary database often competes directly against MySQL is seen by many industry people as an obvious conflict of interest, causing most of the friction. Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison, of course, contends that MySQL does not compete directly with his company’s highly profitable databases, but a large number of people working in the fields disagree.

Oracle’s legal team was able to get its message across to highly skeptical European Commission antitrust regulators at contentious closed-door hearings on 10 and 11 December. That message: Sun’s valuable intellectual property – and in particular, the popular MySQL, which has recorded hundreds of millions of downloads – will be in good hands after the buy is consummated, and the markets need not worry.

Weekend Communications Turned The Tide

The case study staff who ran the hearings didn’t buy Oracle’s story; in fact, they practically spat in the Oracle counsel’s eye. However, following some post-hearing communications between Oracle and the EC’s senior competition management over the weekend, the senior staff overrode the case study staff’s position and softened the EC’s overall stance. Later, that last roadblock was shoved aside, eWEEK has learned.

The results of this agreement would be far-reaching. For one, Sun – which has been losing more than $100 million (£62m) per month for most of 2009, according to Ellison himself – will be safe within the confines of its new, deep-pockets owner. Sun’s customers will breathe a long-delayed sigh of relief, knowing that their service agreements will be maintained. Oracle takes over the Java franchise, StorageTek and numerous other divisions to finally become a fully-fledged IT systems company.

And yes, Oracle assumes control of the MySQL codebase and stewardship of its worldwide community of developers.