Senators Ask EC To Let Oracle-Sun Deal Go Through

An anonymous reader writes "The European Union has managed to do something that US Presidents often find difficult: to make 59 US Senators from both sides of the aisle agree on something. A group led by John Kerry (D) and Orrin Hatch (R) has sent a letter to the European Union, asking it to wrap up the investigation of the Oracle-Sun merger and let the deal go through. Interestingly, the letter emphasizes the damage the delay and uncertainty are doing to Sun." The article paraphrases a Gartner analyst, who points out that the Senators' letter "comes from a US point of view and doesn't take into account how the EU operates."

Comments

Glad I am not the only one believing that...

[ls671]

From TFA:

"The DoJ runs on completely different competition rules than the EU," he said. "The DoJ looks at where there is harm to consumers. Their decision is businesses can look after themselves. The EU is more likely to be protective of competitors. They believe trade is better with more small competitors."

I am glad I am not the only one believing that... ;-)))

Re:Glad I am not the only one believing that...

[MrNaz]

Honestly, I think that Sun would have been just as ripe a takeover target for Cisco, who has been recently expanding into the server space. Buying Sun would get them an instant, firm beachhead, as well as merging two companies with highly complementary product lines. Cisco's high end networking gear plus Sun's high performance server line make for an excellent one-stop data center shop for people who don't want to compromise on equipment quality.

Other possible buyers of Sun could be any high end network equipment OEM that's cashed up. If Apple wanted to enter the lucrative server space, acquiring Sun would be a good start, as they have a similar hardware+software as a platform culture. Apple has some server products out there, so presumably they want to at least have a presence, and Sun would be a great way to turn "kind of exists in the space" into "major player in the space".

Oracle+Sun doesn't make sense from a hardware point of view, I just don't see Oracle branded servers happening. From a DB point of view it makes even less sense to me. Oracle is just buying up its most threatening competition with no real apparent strategy.

Personally, I think it's competition elimination, and the DoJ was insane to allow it through. The EU is right to block it. There are better suitors for Sun that are more likely to result in a stronger product range for consumers.

Your lobbyists at work

[smurfsurf]

"managed to do something that US Presidents often find difficult: to make 59 US Senators from both sides of the aisle agree on something."

The lobbists agree => the senators agree.

Selection bias (again)

[rve]

This is nothing more than the EU protecting a European company from stiffer competition.

Selection bias. When the EC recently ordered the breakup of two of the world's largest financial institutions (one of which was the largest in the world), you didn't hear about it, because they are based in the Netherlands and the UK and don't make gadgets. As such it's not news that's relevant to slashdot or any other American media, or so you will never hear about it.

The same story with european grocery giants, beer giants, engineering giants and petroleum companies that have been investigated or sanctioned by the EC. By definition, you will never hear about it unless the target is a multinational based in the US, because you have no reason to read foreign media.

I actually do think the EC anti trust office has overused its power under the current commissioner, especially when it comes to dismantling banks, but there is no evidence for any bias based on countries; the harshest measures have been against European companies.