Oracle President Charles Phillips opened Oracle's largest user show to date with a keynote address that avoided controversial topics like Oracle's hostile bid for PeopleSoft and focused instead on a high level overview of Oracle's vision for flexible, integrated IT systems.
The Delaware judge overseeing the legal wrangling there between PeopleSoft and hostile suitor Oracle rejected on Wednesday a settlement that PeopleSoft had arranged with a group of dissident shareholders.
How much more could it cost to keep staff?
The standoff between Oracle and PeopleSoft is once again at an impasse, as PeopleSoft's board refuses to sell the company at the price Oracle has offered, and Oracle refuses to raise its bid.
A majority of PeopleSoft's shareholders gave Oracle the green light to continue its hostile bid for control of the company, tendering more than 60 percent of PeopleSoft's outstanding shares into Oracle's US$24 per share cash offer by the Friday deadline.
The wrangling between PeopleSoft and Oracle has once again gone to the dogs.
Oracle notified Delaware's Court of Chancery of plans to drop a lawsuit pending against PeopleSoft if PeopleSoft shareholders reject Oracle's tender offer. The notification is a sign that Oracle is serious about its current offer being the final one.
The second and final week of a Delaware court trial relating to Oracle's hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft turned into an extended negotiating session between the two sides. Oracle executives criticised PeopleSoft's business in an apparent attempt to drive down PeopleSoft's selling price, while PeopleSoft rewrote for the sixth time the controversial "customer assurance programme" (CAP) that could significantly increase Oracle's acquisition costs.
Firing Craig Conway will cost PeopleSoft at least $US3.2 million, a payment for salary and bonuses Conway would have earned over the next two years, the company said earlier this month in a regulatory filing describing its separation agreement with its former chief executive.
PeopleSoft Inc. raced past analyst expectations in its just-ended quarter, reporting on Thursday a 12 percent increase in revenue, to US$698.8 million, and a slight uptick in revenue from software license sales.
IBM posted quarterly results on Monday showing 9 percent revenue growth from last year and slight earnings growth, despite a US$320 million charge it took during the quarter to settle some claims in a lawsuit over its pension plan.
Soon after an Oracle director said Oracle's current US$21 per share offer for control of PeopleSoft may not be its final bid, Oracle Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Larry Ellison countered that the company is as likely to lower its bid as to raise it.
As PeopleSoft and Oracle continue dragging each other into courtrooms across the country, the trials are bringing to light reams of internal documents and discussions usually hidden from public view.
The tea leaves on Oracle's takeover plans for PeopleSoft have never been harder to read than they are right now.
Computer Associates International (CA) plans to cut 800 positions worldwide, 5 percent of its workforce, in hopes of shaving US$70 million annually off its operating costs.