Oracle acquires MICROS Systems to compete in morphing tech market
Multinational tech company Oracle recently announced its successful acquisition of MICROS Systems, Inc., a Maryland-based hospitality-centric hardware and software manufacturer. The merger, which was recently approved by the European Commission, totaled $5.3 billion at $68 per share, and is Oracle's most significant acquisition since purchasing Sun Microsystems in 2010, reports Bloomberg writer Dina Bass. Oracle has acquired approximately 100 companies over the last ten years, spending roughly $50 billion in the process.
This acquisition is slightly different from others in Oracle's past, as MICROS Systems' domain isn't comprised exclusively of hardware and software production. "About two thirds is services, about 20 percent is hardware and 10 percent software. It's really about the push into the retail market," Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian White told Bloomberg West. "Selling SaaS into the MICROS customer base—which is pretty significant [at] over 500,000—could be a big opportunity for Oracle."
This merger–along with numerous others that have occurred in this sphere throughout 2014—is a direct result of the tech industry shifting its focus to cloud technology, Forbes contributor Joe McKendrick posits. "Cloud means new methods of delivery, new product sets, and radically changed customer expectations."
Tech firms expecting to survive and thrive as the industry rapidly continues to morph must expand their offerings to compete. As a result, technology mergers and acquisitions are making headlines on the regular. In keeping with this trend, the New Zealand-based cloud computing company GreenButton was absorbed by Microsoft earlier this year, and SanDisk Corporation acquired Fusion-io, Inc., a company that specializes in flash memory technology. "We have the right solution for every industry," Fusion-io claims on its website. To remain successful in this increasingly competitive market, it might just have to.