Oracle's reported $5B acquisition of Micros firms up its reach into the hospitality industry

Oracle has reportedly set its sights on another company that could diversify its product lineup, with more hardware, interestingly.

The legacy database giant is close to paying more than $5 billion for publicly traded Micros Systems, which sells hardware and software for use in hotels, restaurants, stores, and back-office facilities, Bloomberg reported today.

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Oracle did not immediately respond to VentureBeat’s request for comment.

Like fellow enterprise tech giants IBM and Cisco, Oracle is in the habit of spending big wads of money to add interesting technology and hire fresh blood. This deal would be fascinating because it would not only bring software into Oracle; like engineering wunderkind Sun Microsystems, a Micros deal would bring hardware into the equation. And while Oracle has managed to report increasing hardware sales following the Sun deal, software has historically been Oracle’s specialty.

Other recent Oracle acquisitions include marketing data company BlueKai, networking software company Corente, business-to-consumer marketing software company Responsys, configure-price-quote software provider BigMachines, and content-marketing provider Compendium.

Oracle would take hold of a business with growing profits. In the year ending June 30, 2013, net income came out to $171.4 million on $227 million in revenue, up from $166.9 million on $234 million in revenue, according to a 2013 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Oracle would also pick up customers in the industries where Micros concentrates, like food, hospitality, and retail. At the time of last year’s filing, customers included Arby’s, Burger King, Cracker Barrel, Hard Rock Café, and Hilton. The New York Mets, the Boston Red Sox, and the Washington Nationals, among others, were running enterprise applications from Micros.

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.