Oracle's Sun takeover could result in redundancies

European officials have approved Oracle's $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems, and many analysts now believe that thousands of redundancies will follow.

According to USA Today, this week Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will outline the company's plans to expand into the hardware and systems business, which could mean that the company could shut some of its less profitable product lines, resulting in massive job losses.

Sun employs 28,000 people worldwide, while Oracle has more than 83,000 employees around the world.

Both companies have stayed silent regarding redundancies, but in an internal memo Sun denied an analyst's prediction that up to half of Sun workers would lose their jobs.

Oracle has stated that it expects a $1.5 billion profit from Sun in the next year.