Oracle buying hospitality, retail tech vendor Micros for $5.3 billion

The deal will give Oracle major penetration into the retail and hospitality industries

Oracle is buying hospitality and retail technology vendor Micros Systems for US$5.3 billion, in a deal that will be its largest since the purchase of Sun Microsystems in 2010.

The announcement Monday follows previous reports of Oracle's interest in Micros. The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to close this year. Net of Micros' cash, the transaction is worth $4.6 billion, according to Oracle. Oracle bought Sun for $7.4 billion, for a deal value of $5.6 billion net of cash and debt.

"We anticipate delivering compelling advantages to companies within the hospitality and retail industries with the acquisition of Micros," Oracle President Mark Hurd said in a statement.

Micros sells hardware and software used by hotels, restaurants, retailers and other industries to run their operations, from POS (point of sale) systems to back-office applications. Its products are installed at hundreds of thousands of locations around the world. Micros has 6,600 employees and logged $1.27 billion in revenue in its last fiscal year.

It may be easier for Oracle to weave Micros into the mix compared to some of its other acquisitions, given that Micros' has built products using Oracle technology.

The vendors' combined products will help hospitality and retail companies modernize their operations and take advantage of cloud computing, big data analytics, mobility and social media, according to a presentation released Monday.

Micros should also fit into Oracle's broader customer experience push, which incorporates its CRM (customer relationship management), marketing and support software.

Salesforce.com and SAP, among others, are pursuing similar strategies. Oracle's move could spark acquisitions of or expanded partnerships with Micros competitors, which include NCR, Par Technology and Posera-HDX.

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris' email address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com

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Tags enterprise resource planningMergers and acquisitionsOraclebusiness issuessoftwareapplicationsCustomer Relationship Managementhardware systemsindustry verticalsMicros

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