Sun pays $1 billion for MySQL

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In a deal that will pitch Sun directly against database giants, Oracle and IBM, Sun aims at complete operating system for the internet with MySQL buy.

Sun has today bought the open source database vendor, MySQL for a total cost of $1 billion (511 million).

The acquisition adds the $15 billion database market to Sun's targets for growth and puts the final piece of a complete, open source operating system (OS) based software stack for the internet in place.

"Today's acquisition reaffirms Sun's position at the centre of the global web economy," said Jonathan Schwartz, Sun chief executive and president.

MySQL's open source database is the 'M' in LAMP - the software platform comprised of Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP/Perl often seen as key internet components. Sun said it is committed to enhancing and optimising the LAMP stack on GNU/Linux and Microsoft Windows along with OpenSolaris and Apple's MAC OS X.

GlassFish

NetBeans

Sun will pay approximately $800 million (406 million) in cash in exchange for all MySQL stock and assume approximately $200 million (101.5 million) in options. The deal is expected to close in the late third or early fourth quarters of Sun's 2008 fiscal year, subject to regulatory approvals.

Miya Knights
Miya Knights

A 25-year veteran enterprise technology expert, Miya Knights applies her deep understanding of technology gained through her journalism career to both her role as a consultant and as director at Retail Technology Magazine, which she helped shape over the past 17 years. Miya was educated at Oxford University, earning a master’s degree in English.

Her role as a journalist has seen her write for many of the leading technology publishers in the UK such as ITPro, TechWeekEurope, CIO UK, Computer Weekly, and also a number of national newspapers including The Times, Independent, and Financial Times.