Sun Microsystems said that its stockholders have approved the $7.4 billion sale to Oracle. The California-based company said that 62% of its stockholders have voted to adopt the agreement at a meeting of stockholders held on July 16, 2009.
Under the agreement, Oracle will acquire Sun’s common stock for $9.50 per share in cash. The approval marks a major development for the acquisition. However, the deal closure remains subject to clearance from the regulatory authorities and other closing conditions.
Oracle has agreed to buy Sun Microsystems on April 20, a month after IBM abandoned its bid to buy the ailing software developer and hardware manufacturer. Oracle said the deal would have long-term strategic customer advantages to Oracle owning two key Sun software assets: Java and Solaris.
On June 26th, Oracle issued a statement attributable to Dan Wall, Latham & Watkins counsel to Oracle: “All that’s left is one narrow issue about the way rights to Java are licensed that is never going to get in the way of the deal. I fully expect that the investigation will end soon and not delay the closing of the deal this summer.”
