Oracle announced today that it is acquiring NetSuite in a transaction valued at approximately $9.3 billion. The transaction is expected to close in 2016.
“Oracle and NetSuite cloud applications are complementary, and will coexist in the marketplace forever,” said Mark Hurd, CEO, Oracle, in a statement released by Oracle. “We intend to invest heavily in both products—engineering and distribution.”
NetSuite provides cloud-based financials/ERP, and omnichannel commerce software suites, as well as a suite of applications, including financial management, e-commerce and retail management, commerce marketing automation and Professional Services Automation (PSA) to provide companies with a comprehensive system for running their businesses in the cloud.
As one of the largest acquisitions in Oracle’s history the deal will bring together Oracle chairman Larry Ellison and Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite, "who ran Oracle’s marketing operations in the 1990s," according to the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ article also pointed out that Ellison is NetSuite’s largest investor, with Ellison and his family holding around 40% of the company's shares.
In a statement, Nelson said that NetSuite will benefit from Oracle’s global scale and reach to accelerate the availability of its cloud solutions in more industries and more countries.
The closing of the transaction is subject to receiving regulatory approvals and satisfying other closing conditions including NetSuite stockholders tendering a majority of NetSuite’s outstanding shares in the tender offer.
In addition, the closing is subject to a condition that a majority of NetSuite’s outstanding shares not owned by executive officers or directors of NetSuite, or persons affiliated with Larry Ellison, his family members and any affiliated entities, be tendered in the tender offer.
More information about this announcement is available at www.oracle.com/netsuite.