Oracle to Close $9B NetSuite Buyout

News Analysis Mitch Wagner, Executive Editor, Light Reading 11/5/2016

NetSuite shareholders endorsed Oracle's acquisition bid, clearing the way for the $9 billion acquisition to conclude Monday, despite earlier efforts by a big investor to block the transaction.

Investors voting on 53% of NetSuite shares approved the bid, Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) said Saturday in a statement. T. Rowe Price, which recently held about 18% of the stock, publicly opposed the $109 per share offer, holding out for $133 per share. (See $9.3B Oracle-NetSuite Merger in Jeopardy.)

Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison was an early investor in NetSuite, and owned about 40% of outstanding shares just before Oracle announced the acquisition in July.

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NetSuite provides a cloud suite of software for managing business operations and customer relations. The acquisition will boost Oracle's transition from on-premises to cloud, competing with the likes of Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Salesforce.com Inc. (See Oracle Acquires NetSuite for $9.3B to Boost Cloud Apps.)

NetSuite and Oracle have historically had close ties. In addition to the Ellison connection, NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson previously worked for Ellison heading marketing, and NetSuite Chairman/CTO Evan Goldberg and other top management previously worked at Oracle.

— Mitch Wagner, , Editor, Light Reading Enterprise Cloud