Oracle Corp. is planning to hire 2,000 sales and engineering employees, which will outnumber the cuts it is making at its latest acquisition, Sun Microsystems Inc., The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison told the newspaper that his company, the leader in proprietary database software, is charting a new course with its $7.4 billion acquisition of server and software maker Sun Micro.

It has been widely speculated that Oracle will slash Sun's work force after the acquisition is completed, though Oracle has not said how many jobs would be lost. But Ellison said Oracle's 2,000 new hires will outnumber the cuts in Sun's head count once it's absorbed, according to the Journal.

Oracle is expected to outline its post-acquisition plans at an event Wednesday at its Redwood Shores, Calif., headquarters.

The paper said Sun had about 27,596 employees as of Sept. 30. Oracle had 83,366 employees at the end of November.

Last week the European Union approved the transaction, months after the U.S. Department of Justice cleared the deal. Oracle said last week it "intends to close the transaction shortly."