Oracle to maintain quick pace for takeovers, exec says
521616
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California  - Oracle Corp.  will likely keep targeting smaller companies as it seeks to keep up a quick pace of takeovers, although bigger deals are still on the table, an Oracle executive said on Thursday.
310556
Oracle Corp. President Charles Phillips on Monday said PeopleSoft Inc. customers have become more comfortable with the prospect of a merger between the two software firms even as the proposed transaction awaits a critical ruling from a Delaware court.
734205
WILMINGTON, Del.  - Oracle Corp. ORCL.O Chief  Executive Larry Ellison said on Friday his company has talked  about revising its current $21-per-share offer to buy rival  PeopleSoft Inc. PSFT.O, although it has focused more on  lowering the bid instead of raising it.
90991
BEA Systems made good Sunday on its promise to let a 5 p.m. Pacific Time&#160;deadline expire on Oracle&#39;s $17-per-share offer to buy the company.The enterprise software maker&#39;s board of directors had already said publicly that Oracle&#39;s bid, which amounts to $6.7 billion, was too low.&#160;BEA instead named a price of $21 per share, which works out to roughly $8.3 billion.Oracle issued a brief statement Sunday that was terse in tone, but nonetheless did not rule out a future bid: &quot;The BEA shareholders should not assume that Oracle will renew its $17 per share offer in the future. Over time many things can change: BEA&#39;s business might materially weaken, the stock market can fall further from its recent record highs, or Oracle may have committed its capital elsewhere.&quot;A BEA spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.Oracle has coveted BEA&#39;s customer base and share of the middleware market, but company officials called BEA&#39;s demand &quot;impossibly high.&quot;While Oracle&#39;s next move remains to be seen, other companies may look to acquire BEA.Burc Oral, president of the New England BEA User Group, brought up some oft-mentioned names -- HP, S- but said perhaps an unlikely suitor will emerge for the firm. &quot;I have always thought that stackwise, HP is a good candidate. I was also thinking about a sleeping giant, like Computer Associates. They have no overlap.&quot;Of course, there is still the possibility that Oracle will end up buying BEA after all, and perhaps soon.BEA&#39;s largest shareholder, billionaire Carl Icahn, has demanded the board allow shareholders to consider Oracle&#39;s bid.Icahn, who holds more than 58 million shares of BEA stock, said in a statement that he has filed suit in Delaware to force an annual shareholder meeting &quot;before any scorched earth transactions (such as stock issuances, asset sales, acquisitions or similar occurrences) take place at BEA, other than transactions that are approved by shareholders.&quot;The investor also accused BEA&#39;s board of intending &quot;to find ways to derail a sale&quot; and maintain control of the company.Icahn said BEA can avoid litigation if it conducts an auction sale, allowing shareholders to consider offers from the highest bidder.An Oracle purchase would prompt an uncertain future for BEA customers, according to Oral.&quot;I think the support and maintenance will be honored for at least three years [if Oracle buys BEA],&quot; he said. &quot;The issue is, what is the product development that is going to happen?&quot;Change wouldn&#39;t occur immediately under Oracle, but would subsequently do so in dramatic fashion, he predicted. &quot;For a year, BEA is going to sail as it is. Then there is going to be a major consolidation in the product space.&quot;Prakash Malani, a BEA user from the Los Angeles, California area, said sale talks come at a time when BEA&#39;s fortunes are middling.&quot;I believe they have excellent products that compete very well in the market place. However, their products are being commoditized, innovation is slowing down, and their big bet on SOA [service-oriented architecture] has yet to be paid off,&quot; Malani wrote in an e-mail message. &quot;They have missed [the] mark on some technologies like RIA (Rich Internet Application) and their top talent is being poached by companies like Google.&quot;
99493
By Bloomberg News. The chief financial officer of the Oracle Corporation, Harry L. You, said yesterday that $24 a share remained the company&#39;s &quot;best and final&#39;&#39; offer for PeopleSoft Inc.
581299
The European Union's competition commissioner could be ready to allow Oracle to proceed with its $7.7 billion hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft.
558158
Oracle (ORCL:Nasdaq - news - research) delivered on its promise that it would produce a slate of directors for nomination at PeopleSoft&#39;s (PSFT:Nasdaq - news - research) annual shareholder meeting next spring, but PeopleSoft repeated its mantra that the
362784
Executive sees opportunities despite recent challenges to its position from Microsoft and Oracle.
545404
LONDON -- As Oracle Corp. pushes forward with its hostile bid to acquire rival enterprise software maker PeopleSoft Inc. for $7.7 billion, it is also sizing up further acquisition options, according to Oracle President, Charles Phillips.
768330
Editor&#39;s note: The following excerpts are from Oracle CEO Larry Ellison&#39;s press conference Monday announcing an agreement to acquire PeopleSoft.
212719
PeopleSoft Inc.'s board is prepared to drop its ferocious resistance to Oracle Corp.'s hostile takeover bid and negotiate a price above the current $7.7 billion offer if there's ''high certainty&quot; a deal can be done quickly, a company director said in court yesterday.
269362
Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison testified yesterday that the business software maker is leaning toward lowering its $7.7 billion bid for rival PeopleSoft
150664
[Wilmington, Delaware | Reuters News Service, 11 October 2004] - Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison said on Friday that Oracle has talked about revising its $21-per-share offer to buy rival PeopleSoft, but he dented Wall Street expectations by saying
530705
Customers will be able to get their hands on the delayed version of Oracle Corp.'s E-Business Suite 11i.10 within 60 days, the Redwood Shores, California, company announced Monday, at the opening day of its OpenWorld conference in London.
499783
Oracle Corp has reiterated that its stalled merger with PeopleSoft Inc is not the only acquisition opportunity it is considering, and said that talks with other potential targets are already in progress.
589454
PeopleSoft (PSFT) CEO Craig Conway isn&#39;t about to go down without a fight in his company&#39;s takeover tussle with rival Oracle (ORCL).
499978
PeopleSoft Inc. will push ahead  with a new marketing alliance with IBM and other initiatives  despite a recent court ruling that bolstered Oracle Corp.'s  $7.7-billion hostile bid to acquire the company, PeopleSoft's  CEO said on Tuesday.