Oracle-Sun merger is not fated to be completed?

The European Commission raised objection to Oracle Corp's acquisition of a computer producer Sun Microsystems for $7 billion, bringing the deal into a question. According to EC preliminary assessment statement, combining Sun's MySQL database product and Oracle's products could badly affect competition in the database market. Oracle said it "plans to vigorously oppose the Commission's Statement of Objections". The Commission faces a January, 19 deadline on whether to approve the deal. Previously, Sun opposed a deal to sell itself to Oracle after several years of failed attempts to turn itself around. The deal was considered an alternative way to transform Sun into a diversified technology company, selling computers alongside Oracle's software. In October the EU regulators said that Oracle has not presented evidence to silence antitrust concerns. The EC's prime apprehensive appears to be Sun's MySQL database, which it bought for $1 bln last year and which is used to run popular websites including Google, Facebook and Amazon. Oracle's database is far more robust, enabling companies to access larger quantities of data fast. Critics of the deal worry Oracle's ownership may hinder MySQL's development. The US Department of Justice, that approved the deal in August, on Monday reported it believed customers will still have a variety of choices after the companies merge. "The Department's Antitrust Division concluded that the merger is unlikely to be anticompetitive," said the department. It also unveiled its hopes that Oracle and Sun could reach a speedy resolution with the European Commission. Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison recently said Sun is losing about $100 million a month as a result of uncertainty about its future, due to the prolonged investigation by European antitrust officials.