Oracle Corp. agreed to buy Sun Microsystems for about $7.4 billion in cash, swooping in after the server maker’s talks to be acquired by International Business Machines failed.

Oracle will pay $9.50 a share, 42 percent more than Sun’s closing price on April 17. The California company said the purchase will add $1.5 billion to operating earnings, excluding some items, in the first year.

The takeover moves Oracle, the world’s second-largest software maker, into the market for server and storage computers, pitting the company against IBM and Hewlett-Packard.

Sun soared $2.46, or 37 percent, to $9.15 in Nasdaq trading and Oracle fell 24 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $18.82.