In a brief press release Sun have announced that shareholders representing approximately 62 per cent of the outstanding common stock of Sun have voted to approve the Oracle acquisition, with Oracle paying $9.50 per Sun share. Net of debts and cash on hand this gives Sun a valuation of $5.6bn based on the latest financial figures available.
The deal still requires US and European regulatory approval, and the US Justice Department last month extended its antitrust review specifically seeking assurances around Java. Oracle said the DOJ's investigation focuses on "one narrow issue" about the way rights to Sun's Java technology are licensed. "I fully expect that the investigation will end soon and not delay the closing of the deal this summer," Oracle counsel Dan Wall was quoted as saying at the time.
Oracle announced in April that it intended to acquire Sun, and the $9.50-per-share offer beat a lower bid by rival IBM Corp. The offer was nearly double the price Sun had before acquisition talks leaked in March. Sun, meanwhile, continues to struggle financially, announcing earlier this week that is expects second-quarter sales to fall by more than a third compared to the same quarter last year.
