Sun Microsystems has announced a further 3,000 job cuts,
blaming delays in getting the green light from the European
Commission for its merger with Oracle.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Sun
failed to provide any update about its finances, but said its board
had decided on the job cuts "in light of the delay in the closing
of the acquisition of the company". The cuts account for about 10
per cent of its workforce, said a report in
the Financial Times.
The Unix server and workstation supplier has been hit hard by
the economic crisis, since the banking sector was one of its
biggest customers. Oracle announced in April 2009 that it would buy
Sun for $7.4bn, but the merger has been held up by
EU antitrust regulators. The merger has been cleared by US
authorities, but because of concerns over competition in the
database market the EC has kicked off an investigation that has
until January to make a decision over the tie-up.
"The commission has an obligation to ensure that customers would
not face reduced choice or higher prices as a result of this
takeover," competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said.