Oracle Is Working On A Huge $5 Billion Acquisition

Oracle is getting ready to buy a company called Micros Systems for more than $5 billion, sources told Bloomberg's Alex Sherman and Dina Bass.

Micros makes software and hardware for the hospitality industries.

This would be Oracle's largest acquisition since it bought Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion in 2010 (which really cost Oracle $5.6 billion after it factored in Sun's cash).

Oracle is one of the most acquisitive companies in the tech industry, having spent $50 billion to acquire about 100 companies over the past 10 years, Bloomberg reports.

This year alone, it has already bought BlueKai (for around $400 million, sources told Business Insider), as well as Corente and GreenBytes.

Still, the Micros Systems deal, should it proceed as reported, would be a big one for Oracle for several reasons.

Obviously, the size of the deal, at $5 billion, makes it stand out. Micros Systems would also give Oracle a tablet. The company makes "point of sale" cash register software and hardware for the hospitality and retail industry. The latest wave in the POS industry is to replace these devices with tablets, and Micros offers a Windows tablet for this exact purpose.

Most importantly, it could give Oracle some much needed growth. Micros generated nearly $1.3 billion in revenue in 2013 and $171 million in net income.

On rumors of this acquisition, Micros System's stock price has gone crazy. It's up 17% to about $67, when it had been trading near the $58 mark for the past few days and under $53 for most of April and much of May.

Oracle reports its fourth quarter earnings for fiscal 2014 on Thursday. If this acquisition is as close as it sounds, we will likely hear more about it then.

Oracle declined to comment on this story.