IT giant Oracle has planted its exceedingly large boots into the travel industry with the $5.3 billion acquisition today of Micros Systems.
The deal, which will close during the second half of this year, is for $68 per Micros share in cash, or $4.6 billion net of the company's cash items.
Micros is best known for its range of software, hardware and other services to manage hotels and food operations in the hospitality sector, as well as a strong presence in countless retail businesses.
The company claims to have around 370,000 individual customer sites dotted around the world, including 30,000 hotels, covering property management and central reservation systems, revenue management tools and the MyFidelio global distribution system.
Oracle president and CEO Mark Hurd says;
"Oracle has successfully helped customers across multiple industries, harness the power of cloud, mobile, social, big data and the internet of things to transform their businesses."
The deal ends over 35 years as an independent business following its formation in 1977, expanding since then to house around 6,400 employees who work on 45 subsidiaries.
The company also has a sizeable re-seller service, working with 90 distributors in 50 countries.
It has evolved over time from its original retail point-of-sale and hospitality hardware provider to increasingly cloud-based platforms and services.
Peter Altabef, president and CEO at Micros, adds:
"In combination with Oracle, we expect to help accelerate our customers’ ability to innovate and differentiate their businesses by utilizing Oracle’s technologies, cloud solutions and scale."
The acquisition completely eclipses the recent purchase of OpenTable by Priceline for $2.6 billion earlier this month, although this particular deal will not come as a huge surprise given a number of leaks in recent weeks to the mainstream media.
Oracle says the acquisition will see Micros sit within a dedicated unit within the wider business, subject to the deal's overall approval by Micros's shareholders and regulators.