Oracle to Europe: More time, please

November 20, 2009 3:17 PM ET

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Oracle Corp. was given more time by European regulators to defend its $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems, with the deadline for completion of an antitrust review extended to Jan. 27.

European regulators in Brussels, Belgium, earlier this month indicated to Oracle concerns about various elements of the merger that they said would reduce competition, potentially increasing prices. It says Oracle has yet to propose any solutions in response.

There are expectations that regulators may ask Oracle to sell off its MySQL open-source database unit, a suggestion the tech firm has resisted.

While U.S. regulators have given the acquisition a green light, an European Union rejection would likely kill the deal. Sun, which lost $120 million in the quarter ended Sept. 27, says it is losing market share to IBM and Hewlett-Packard and needs to merge.

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