PeopleSoft Fires CEO Conway

The company's board dismissed Craig Conway, citing "a loss of confidence." Founder and Chairman Dave Duffield will take over the reins.

In the wake of a 15-month-long battle for its life, PeopleSoft Inc.s board of directors fired CEO Craig Conway Friday morning. The board cited "a loss of confidence" in Conways ability to guide the company. The companys founder and chairman, Dave Duffield, will replace Conway as CEO. Kevin Parker and Phil Wilmington will act as co-presidents, according to a statement released by the company. Days after PeopleSoft announced the acquisition of J.D. Edwards & Co. in June of 2003, Oracle Corp. lobbed a hostile takeover bid at the company, which Conway and the board unanimously rejected. Click here to read more about Conways removal and what hurdles remain for a takeover by Oracle. Since that time, Oracle has increased and decreased its bid for the company—it now stands at $7.7 billion—and won an antitrust trial brought by the U.S. Department of Justice to pursue PeopleSoft. In the ensuing months, PeopleSofts stock has fallen and customers have lost confidence in the companys ability to survive. Through it all, Conway and the board have steadfastly declined Oracles offer. Check out eWEEK.coms Enterprise Applications Center for the latest news, reviews and analysis about productivity and business solutions.

Be sure to add our eWEEK.com enterprise applications news feed to your RSS newsreader or My Yahoo page