PARIS — The European Commission said Thursday that it had approved the proposed $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems by Oracle, the U.S. software giant, because it would not significantly affect competition in the European Union.
“I am now satisfied that competition and innovation will be preserved on all the markets concerned,” the European competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes said in a statement. “Oracle's acquisition of Sun has the potential to revitalize important assets and create new and innovative products.”
The commission, the Brussels-based executive arm of the E.U., had initiated a formal antitrust investigation in the fall amid concerns that the combination could harm the database software market.
But the commission’s position appeared to soften after Oracle, the world’s largest vendor of database programs, agreed to preserve the viability of MySQL, a free, widely used open-source database application that it would acquire in the deal for Sun.
In December, the commission indicated that it was “optimistic” that the deal between the two California companies would no longer pose a threat to the European market for database software.
At that time, Ms. Kroes, said Oracle had made significant commitments to support MySQL, which has been downloaded more than 100 million times over the past decade.
Ms. Kroes said Oracle, after it acquired Sun, would extend MySQL's existing commercial licenses for up to five years. Oracle would also make binding guarantees to companies and individuals that already use MySQL that Oracle would not pursue intellectual property claims.
Sun acquired MySQL, then based in Uppsala, Sweden, in 2008 for $1 billion. In April, Oracle announced its intention to acquire Sun pending regulatory approval.
U.S. regulators quickly cleared the deal, but Ms. Kroes issued the commission’s objections on Nov. 10.
Since then, Oracle and commission investigators have been meeting to work out a compromise that would avoid a lengthy legal process.
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