Hardware company Sun Microsystems will be slashing 3,000 positions worldwide in the backdrop of

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delay in the acquisition of the company by Oracle.

Database software major Oracle in April agreed to snap up Sun for about USD 7.4 billion but the deal has been delayed due to regulatory hurdles in Europe.

Sun's Board of Directors have approved a plan to better align its resources with strategic business objectives in the light of the delay in closing of the firm's acquisition, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

The plan includes reducing the workforce across the North America, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), APAC (Asia-Pacific) and Emerging Markets regions by up to 3,000 employees over the next 12 months, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

Sun has more than 1,000 employees in India. Since late last year, Sun has cut as many as 6,000 jobs.

According to the company, the restructuring plan is expected to result in charges to the tune of USD 75 to 125 million over the next several quarters.

"The majority of which relates to cash severance costs and is expected to be incurred in the second and third quarters of the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010," the filing said.

The European authorities are yet to approve the deal and are looking at whether the transaction would result in Oracle monopolising the database software market.