Oracle makes a run for the cash register, buys Micros for $5.3B

Oracle has bought Micros Systems, that maker of point-of-sale hardware and software tools for retailers, hotel companies, and other businesses.

At $5.3 billion, it’s a big buy for Oracle — the biggest, in fact, since the 2010 Sun Microsystems acquisition, catapulting Oracle into the hardware business and diversifying it beyond legacy database software.

Today’s deal — which comes out to $68 per share in Micros stock, according to Oracle’s announcement — should have a similar diversifying effect. The deal adds gear and software to Oracle’s lineup for hospitality and retail industries. And Micros could fit in nicely with Oracle’s focus on cloud computing; Micros has made “strong momentum in cloud solutions,” according to a slide deck on the deal.

The acquisition didn’t come out of nowhere, as reports emerged about an Oracle-Micros deal last week.

Micros products and services operate at Hard Rock Café, Hyatt, Ikea, Marriott, Starbucks, and Sur La Table locations.

In addition to point-of-sale hardware and software, Micros sells analytics software, customer-relationship management software, and inventory-tracking software.

Micros, based in Baltimore, started in 1977 and hit public markets in 1981.