Oracle Officially Buys Micros Systems

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After rumors surfaced early last week, Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) says it has officially bought MICROS Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRS) for $5.3 billion. Micros shareholders will receive $68 per share in cash, which represents an 18% premium the June 16 closing price. Bloomberg initially reported that the two companies were negotiating the day before and now reports that the deal is officially done.

Oracle prevails after all

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) came close to buying MICROS Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRS) six years ago. In fact, Micros’ then-CEO actually went to California to sign a buyout agreement with Oracle, but the transaction ended up falling through.

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) has been snapping up companies right and left over the last 10 years, with approximately 100 acquisitions in that time frame. The company spent about $50 billion during those years. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has been trying to reignite growth at the company after they missed the shift to cloud computing. Just last week, Oracle announced another acquisition: real-time visual collaboration provider LiveLOOK. Terms of that deal were not disclosed.

The company’s sales have either fallen or risen by less than 4% in the last 11 quarters as customers turn to cloud-based software rather than Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)’s traditional software. With the acquisition of MICROS Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRS), Oracle gets a solid foothold in the hospitality industry, as Micros focuses on software for that sector.

Oracle’s biggest acquisition in years

The two companies expect the deal to close in the second half of this year. It will be Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)’s biggest since 2010 when it bought Sub Microsystems Inc. Analysts expect Oracle will continue its acquisition strategy.

The number of mergers and acquisitions in the technology industry has been rapidly increasing. The shift to cloud computing has taken many companies by surprise. As a result, they’re buying smaller, newer cloud-computing companies for the purpose of gaining a foothold in the segment. Recently SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) signed an agreement to buy cloud-storage provider Fusion-IO, Inc. (NYSE:FIO), which lists big companies like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) among its clients.

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