Aussie Sun Microsystems staff fate unclear

The future of Australia’s Sun Microsystems staff is uncertain after the vendor announced it will layoff 3000 employees across its global workforce over the next 12 months.

A spokesperson for the Australian arm of Sun Microsystems told Computerworld it will not comment on the expected staff cuts.

The layoffs were announced in a report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as the company awaits European approval of its $US7.4 billion takeover by Oracle.

The report said the Sun board, "approved a plan to better align the company’s resources with its strategic business objectives, including reducing its workforce across the North America, EMEA, APAC and Emerging Markets regions by up to 3000 employees over the next 12 months".

Sun is losing $US100 million a month while it awaits approval for the deal, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said last month.

The report also said Sun will take a charge of $US75 million to $US125 million for the job cuts, mostly for cash severance payments.

Last November, the company announced it planned to lay off 15 per cent to 18 per cent of its workforce, or up to 6000 employees, in an effort to reduce costs, and it is understood the latest cuts are in addition to those.

The US Department of Justice approved Oracle's acquisition of Sun in August, but the European Commission has launched an investigation that could last until January.

The regulators say they are concerned about the effect that Oracle's ownership of Sun's MySQL database will have on the open-source software market.

Additional reporting by James Niccolai.

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