Oracle is the world's largest enterprise software company. It has made its name in the software industry as the pioneer of relational database software, which lets businesses store and manage large amounts of data. The company's operations are separated into two divisions: software and services. Oracle's software licenses and software support have consistently brought in about 80% of their total revenue.^[1]

Oracle has been on an acquisitions frenzy. These acquisitions have increased the number of customers that rely on Oracle for product support. By increasing its customer base Oracle has been able to reduce its software license prices to compete with other software giants, keeping their support fees level and increasing the number of customers requiring their support. In 2005, Oracle purchased PeopleSoft Inc. for $11.1 billion. Oracle purchased BEA Systems for $8.5 billion in 2008. Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion dollars in January 2009, after receiving regulatory approval from the European Commission. Sun has transformed Oracle from a database and business-software company to a hardware company as well.

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