Oracle merger stopped by EU regulators

Oracle's acquisition of Sun was approved in the US, but European regulators worry about decreased competition.

This apparent meeting of minds has not lasted long. On November 9th it emerged that regulators in Brussels object to the proposed $7.4 billion purchase of Sun Microsystems, a troubled maker of computer hardware, by Oracle, a software giant. That puts them at odds with America’s Department of Justice, which gave its approval to the tie-up in August. Observers now fear the outbreak of a transatlantic row over antitrust similar to the one that broke out in 2001, when Europe blocked a union between two conglomerates, General Electric (GE) and Honeywell.

This is a good example of regulatory issues in acquisitions.

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