Oracle Inks $5.3 Billion Deal to Buy Micros Systems

In its priciest acquisition in four years, Oracle today announced that it will buy Micros Systems, a seller of hospitality software, for $5.3 billion.

The deal, which was unanimously approved by Micros board of directors, is expected to close before the end of the year. It marks Oracle's first multi-billion dollar acquisition since buying Sun Microsystems for $5.6 billion in 2010.

"Oracle has successfully helped customers across multiple industries, harness the power of cloud, mobile, social, big data and the internet of things to transform their businesses," Oracle President Mark Hurd said in a statement. "We anticipate delivering compelling advantages to companies within the Hospitality and Retail industries with the acquisition of Micros."

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Bob Weiler, executive vice president for Oracle's global business units said Micros' management and employees would continue to function as an entity inside of Oracle to "maintain their focus on serving customers."

The move comes just days after the computer tech company posted disappointing fourth-quarter results. The company earned a profit of 80 cents a share, down 4 percent from a year ago and missing analyst estimates. Revenue rose 3 percent, but also missed Wall Street's expectations.

In recent months, Oracle has taken a hit from other small business-oriented companies such as Workday Inc. and Salesforce.com who have been able to beat the software giant with competitive pricing with their business solutions software and internet-based products.

Oracle is the second largest maker of software in the world. This acquisition is its seventh since October of last year.

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