Widenius appeals Sun/Oracle acquisition
The deal may have gone through back in January, but the creator of MySQL is still calling for the EU to step in.
Monty Widenius has launched an appeal to the European Union (EU) against the green light given to the acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle.
Although the deal went through in January, the creator of open source database MySQL is not ready to give up the fight and wants the EU to step in.
Widenius filed the appeal to the European Court of Justice late last week.
The controversial acquisition began back in April 2009 when, despite everyone thinking IBM was the front runner, Oracle swooped in and made an offer of $7.4 billion for the company.
The deal quickly got the thumbs up from the US authorities but the European Competition Commission had doubts as to whether its ownership of MySQL would be an unfair advantage on the database market.
Widenius, together with colleague Florian Mueller, leapt on the campaign trail and tried to stop the EU giving its permission but it seemed to fall on deaf ears and eventually Europe agreed the acquisition.
Oracle has just completed its first full quarter with Sun incorporated in the company. The results were impressive, with Sun making a $400 million contribution to the 39 per cent rise in profits.
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
IT PRO contacted both Widenius and the European Competition Commission but neither had responded to our request for comment at the time of publication.
Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.
Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.
-
Dreamforce 2025: What's an agentic OS?ITPro Podcast NPUs, e-ink, and immersive headsets are the latest hardware innovations for business devices
-
Sundar Pichai thinks commercially viable quantum computing is just 'a few years' awayNews The Alphabet exec acknowledged that Google just missed beating OpenAI to model launches but emphasized the firm’s inherent AI capabilities
-
OpenAI has a bold plan to pay for its $1 trillion spending spree: Ads, personal assistants, and cheaper subscriptionsNews OpenAI has lined up more than $1 trillion in spending – and now it's trying to figure out how to pay for it all.
-
Oracle leadership shake-up comes at 'the right moment' as Safra Catz makes way for co-CEOSNews Clay Magouyrk and Mike Silica will take up the joint role at Oracle amidst a sharpened AI focus
-
Three things you need to know about the EU Data Act ahead of this week's big compliance deadlineNews A host of key provisions in the EU Data Act will come into effect on 12 September, and there’s a lot for businesses to unpack.
-
Oracle layoffs loom despite strong financial resultsNews Hundreds of staff across US and elsewhere say they've been made redundant
-
The second enforcement deadline for the EU AI Act is approaching – here’s what businesses need to know about the General-Purpose AI Code of PracticeNews General-purpose AI model providers will face heightened scrutiny
-
Meta isn’t playing ball with the EU on the AI ActNews Europe is 'heading down the wrong path on AI', according to Meta, with the company accusing the EU of overreach
-
‘Confusing for developers and bad for users’: Apple launches appeal over ‘unprecedented’ EU fineNews Apple is pushing back against new app store rules imposed by the European Commission, suggesting a €500m fine is a step too far.
-
Apple, Meta hit back at EU after landmark DMA finesNews The European Commission has issued its first penalties under the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), fining Apple €500 million and Meta €200m.
