Oracle Absorbs Sun Without Financial Harm

Enterprise software maker Oracle still made a healthy profit in the last few months, despite digesting Sun Microsystem in a $7.4 billion (£4.9bn) deal. Profit fell by 11 percent due to $1.19 billion (£803 million) for the quarter which ended in February.

Oracle had a tumultuous 2009 during which it acquired Sun Microsystems and battled IBM and fought SAP in the markets, but the results show it came through the last quarter in good financial shape — despite the expensive legal and regulatory issues surrounding the Sun deal.

Sun purchase brings new profits

Oracle’s buyout of Sun, which closed in January, added $458 million (£309m) in revenue to the company’s fiscal third quarter but restructuring and operating costs took their toll on the bottom line, said Oracle Chief Financial Officer Jeff Epstein.

“The Sun integration is going even better than we expected,” Oracle President Safra Catz told listeners on a conference call. “We believe that Sun will make a significant contribution to our fourth-quarter earnings per share as well as meet the profitability goals we set for next year.” The company has announced plans for Sun products, reassuring Sun customers that the Sun technology will continue to develop as part of a unified stack.

Oracle’s third-quarter GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) total revenues were up 17 percent to $6.5 billion (£4.3bn) over 2009, while non-GAAP total revenues were up 18 percent to $6.5 billion (£4.4bn).

New licensing revenue from database and middleware products improved by 13 percent, Epstein said.

CEO and co-founder Larry Ellison (pictured)  told conference call listeners that the company continues to snare “huge chunks of market share” from Germany-based rival SAP.  “SAP’s products are fraying around the edges,” Ellison said. “They’re running on 25-year-old code. Our products beat them in so many ways.”

SAP’s CEO Leo Apotheker stepped down in February following poor results.