Larry Ellison reported to be on the brink of acquiring Micros Systems for Oracle

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Ellison, is reportedly ready to pay around $5 billion for the Columbia, Maryland based software developer.

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Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of business software giant Oracle Corporation., is reportedly on the verge of acquiring  the Columbia, Maryland based software developer Micros Systems, and is ready to pay around $5 billion for the privilege,

According to industry reports, Ellison has had Micros Systems in his sights for a number of years, as he attempts to increase Oracle’s footprint in the hospitality industry, with Micros Systems recognized as being  one of the strongest companies in the sector specializing in developing and producing software and providing software management services for hotels and  restaurants, where they have reported to have around 35% of the total market.

In recent years Micros Systems have also begun to increase their share of producing and marketing software for the retail industry.

Micros Systems’ provide a joint software and hardware package which takes in touchscreen computers for processing orders, with a full back-office service allowing for the generation of various types of reports, such as total sales and total menu items sold, to be produced.

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Ellison has long been an admirer of Micros Systems and reportedly was on the verge of acquiring the company six years ago, although the transaction failed to come to pass, due to circumstances which have remained undisclosed.

In general Oracle have been reported to be in the market for some time for compatible acquisitions as they seek to increase their turnover and profitability after more than two sluggish years, which industry analysts attribute  the fact that Ellison was slow to recognize the development and possibilities of  Internet-based cloud software and has lost some of his grip in the business software market as a result.

Ellison is making it obvious that he is now prepared to acquire strong companies to have a foothold in the market, with Micros Systems being a prime example.

News of the possible acquisition  appealed to the New York Stock Exchange with  shares in Micros Systems  closing 15% up on the day at $66.33, their biggest gain in close to a decade.  The market still seems tepid on Oracle, whose shares rose by less than one percent to close for the day at  $42.32.

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Larry Ellison  was born in New York City, although due to family circumstances, was brought up by an aunt and uncle in Chicago, who eventually adopted him

Ellison studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, although he left before the end of his second year, after his adoptive mother suddenly passed away. The following semester, Ellison re-commenced his studies at the University of Chicago in 1966 where he experienced his first encounters with the world of computers.

Larry’s professional  career got underway in the early nineteen seventies when he joined the recently formed Amdahl Corporation, based in his home state of California.

After a few years, Ellison left Amdahl to go to war with the Ampex Corporation, where one of his first projects was to build a complex database , to which he gave the title named “Oracle”, a name that was to go to have a significant effect in his life.

In 1977 Larry Ellison parted company with the Ampex Corporation to establish the Software Development Laboratories (SDL) with two other partners. The new company had a working capital of just $2, 000, of which $1, 200 was put up by Ellison. A few years later, the company was renamed Oracle after the Oracle database that Ellison had developed almost a decade previously.

Over the years, Ellison has grown Oracle to become one of the World’s largest and most successful software companies, with an annual global turnover of 37 billion dollars worldwide, employing more than 120, 000 people throughout the planet.

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