Monty looks to Russia, China to stop Oracle's Sun buyout

MySQL co-creator sees red mist descend

By Kelly Fiveash, 18th January 2010

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The co-founder of MySQL is hoping to convince Chinese and Russian regulators to halt Oracle’s planned buyout of Sun Microsystems, after grumbling that European watchdogs looked set to clear the takeover.

The EC has set a deadline of 27 January to declare its position on the $7bn acquisition, which Michael ‘Monty’ Widenius has vehemently opposed.

In December Monty, who sold MySQL to Sun for $1bn in 2008, kicked off a web campaign to garner signatures in support of his opposition to the proposed deal.

However, according to Reuters, the database man has given up any hope of convincing the European Commission to halt the takeover. Indeed last month, the EC indicated that the deal would be given its seal of approval after Oracle offered to make a few concessions about the future of MySQL.

But all is not lost for Monty, as the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service is continuing to probe the planned multi-billion dollar acquisition. Officials at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce are also sitting on their hands and are yet to green light the deal.

"They are powerful, self-confident and open-source-friendly countries and they have every right and opportunity to do a better job on this than the EU," he told Reuters on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Monty’s Save MySQL campaign has scooped up more than 30,000 signatures from people who oppose the takeover. ®

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