More Layoffs Announced by Oracle after Sun Microsystems's Acquisition

Oracle (News - Alert) Corp. is letting go an unspecified number of employees after the acquisition of Sun Microsystems, according to a new corporate filing with the SEC (News - Alert).

The company said it plans to reduce the size of Oracle's workforce, primarily in Europe and Asia.

The layoffs will lead to more efficiency and less redundancy, Oracle said.

Oracle expects to pay between $550 million and $650 million for charges related to employee severance, and between $40 million to $60 million for contract termination costs, according to the regulatory filing. The additional costs are expected to be incurred through 2011.

Notifications to affected employees began on May 28, 2010.

In January 2010, Oracle said it wrapped up the acquisition of server and storage products maker Sun Microsystems (News - Alert) in a $7.4 billion deal. The buyout was delayed but eventually got the approval of the European Commission after an in-depth antitrust investigation.

Around the time of the deal, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison (News - Alert) said he planned to hire more people for the Sun businesses than he would fire, according to media reports.

Sun Microsystems's workers represented about 20,000 of Oracle's 110,000 total employees, as of January.

Layoffs at Sun Microsystems are nothing new for the company. Last October, Sun announced plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce, or up to 3,000 jobs. And citing a worsening economy, Sun said that in November 2008 that it would lay off up to 6,000 workers. The company said in late 2008 that it was cutting about 18 percent of its global workforce, as part of a plan to cut costs by between $700 million to $800 million annually.

In other company news, Oracle announced last month an agreement to buy Secerno, to add to its security applications that protect online privacy and prevent cyber attacks. The transaction probably will close before the end of June, Redwood City, Calif.-based Oracle said in a statement. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.