Oracle agrees to buy NetSuite for $9.3 billion

Oracle Corp. has put a deal in place to buy cloud software provider NetSuite Inc. for $9.3 billion, boosting the company's cloud offerings to compete with rivals.

The long-awaited deal brings together two businesses heavily influenced by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who also owns 39.7% of NetSuite's chares.

Oracle is paying $109 in cash for NetSuite, a 19% on top of the company’s closing price on Wednesday of $91.57. The deal is expected to be concluded in 2016, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.

Zach Nelson, NetSuite's chief executive, was in charge of Oracle's marketing operations for much of the 1990s, and will once again come on board to partner Ellsion.

Both Oracle and NetSuite provide enterprise resource planning software for firms, with the major difference being the subscription based system of NetSuite.

Mark Hurd, chief executive officer of Oracle said in Thursday’s announcement, “Oracle and NetSuite cloud applications are complementary, and will coexist in the marketplace forever. We intend to invest heavily in both products—engineering and distribution.”