Oracle: Sun deal will double revenue

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 16 Oct 2009 at 10:19

Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison claims the acquisition of Sun will help more than double revenue within five years.

Ellison, who co-founded the company 32 years ago, plans to customise Oracle's software with Sun's hardware, selling specialised servers that offer better performance than ones using hardware and software from other companies.

Investors have not embraced the deal, worrying that Sun will distract Oracle executives and hurt Oracle's margins. But Ellison asked investors to back his plan.

"We can't be copycats and win. You can't be the seventh mover and take the lead," he told more than 100 analysts and investors in San Francisco.

We can't be copycats and win. You can't be the seventh mover and take the lead

He said that while Oracle's margins will initially shrink following its purchase of money-losing Sun, he expects he will be able to run the business "very, very profitably."

Ellison also told the group he planned to remain aggressive in making acquisitions, saying there were some "terrific" candidates to choose from. He said he will consider buying other software and hardware companies.

Senior company executives also talked up plans to release a suite of 43 cloud-based modules to help corporations manage tasks from accounting and human resources to sales and procurement.

That will give Oracle the broadest selection of so-called cloud-based business management applications for large corporations of any major technology company.

Senior Vice President Anthony Lye claimed the products will be released next year as part of Oracle's highly anticipated new line of Fusion Apps software.

Fusion Apps is one of the most closely watched in Oracle's 32-year history. Ellison has staked his reputation on the success of the product, investing five years and billions of dollars on its development.