Red Hat to buy JBoss

Red Hat has signed a definitive agreement to buy open-source Java software vendor JBoss for about $350 million in cash and stock, Red Hat announced Monday.

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The surprise move follows speculation that database vendor Oracle had been in talks to buy JBoss, which is best known for its Java application server software. That deal reportedly foundered because the companies were unable to agree on an acquisition price.

Red Hat said it expects to close the acquisition of JBoss by about the end of May. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions.

Along with $350 million in cash and stock, Red Hat will pay a further $70 million if JBoss meets certain performance goals, it said.

Red Hat, which is known for its Linux distribution, has been working hard to move up the server software stack by offering other open-source products. It had already been distributing a version of the ObjectWeb consortium's Java application server, called Jonas.