Renee Boucher Ferguson

Speaking at the Merrill Lynch & Co.s Computer & Software CEO Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, Larry Ellison—the typically outspoken CEO of Oracle Corp.—had little to say about his companys ongoing battle to acquire PeopleSoft Inc. Oracle launched its bid to acquire PeopleSoft last June. After eight months of wrangling—including a thrice-rejected tender offer […]

The U.S. Department of Justices staff is expected to recommend against Oracle Corp.s $9.4 billion hostile bid for PeopleSoft Inc., according to sources close to the deal. After gathering the appropriate documentation and commentary from customers and competitors, the DoJs staff typically prepares their recommendations at the chief level, or front office. The staff is […]

Citing advice from Goldman, Sachs and Co. and Citigroup Global Markets Inc., PeopleSoft Inc.s board of directors urged shareholders this morning to reject Oracle Corp.s latest tender offer. PeopleSoft announced today that its board voted unanimously to reject Oracles third bid to acquire the company. Last Wednesday Oracle, of Redwood Shores, Calif., announced that it […]

IBM is following through on plans announced late last year to gear its integration software offerings for specific vertical industries. The Armonk, N.Y., company last week rolled out a series of middleware offerings that look to provide functionality that deals with specific business issues or processes at financial services firms, banks and insurance companies. IBMs […]

The bitter battle between Oracle Corp. and PeopleSoft Inc. has taken on a new twist. Oracle this morning raised its bid for PeopleSoft by $6.50 a share, or about $9.4 billion. PeopleSoft, of Pleasanton, Calif., announced positive fourth-quarter earnings last week, to the tune of $685 million—a 34 percent increase over the same quarter last […]

IBM announced Monday new integration software geared toward vertical markets. The announcement is a proof point of sorts for Big Blue, which first talked about its vertically oriented strategy in December. The companys new middleware offerings—not completely associated with IBMs WebSphere integration software—is aimed at the financial services, banking and insurance verticals and look to […]

SAN DIEGO—In an about-face on its longheld contention that it is unnecessary to enable easy integration between its E-Business Suite applications and third-party enterprise applications, Oracle Corp. announced last week that it is doing just that. “Really big companies dont want” to implement Oracle E-Business Suite exclusively, CEO Larry Ellison acknowledged at the companys Oracle […]

Responding to Oracle Corp.s ploy to acquire PeopleSoft Inc. through a proxy battle, PeopleSofts board of directors voted late last week to hold its annual shareholder meeting two months earlier than anticipated. PeopleSofts board voted to hold the meeting March 25, which means shareholders are eligible to cast their vote for a new board as […]

SAN DIEGO, Calif.—In a roundtable discussion with members of the technology press, Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison on Wednesday talked frankly about backtracking on his message of “suite versus best of breed” promulgated by Oracle over the past several years. “Integration is a change in our strategy,” said Ellison. “Really big companies dont want that […]

Oracle is transitioning from its message of suite versus best of breed promulgated at past AppsWorld events. This year, the message at AppsWorld in San Diego is integration, and the recognition that companies may in fact have applications outside the Oracle E-Business Suite. To this end, Oracle an-nounced today its namesake Customer Data Hub that […]