Speaking at an Oracle user conference in London, CEO Larry Ellison said talk that Oracle would discontinue PeopleSoft products is absolutely untrue, but admitted that Oracle could have been clearer in delivering that message.
It makes no financial sense to buy a company with the goal of obtaining customers and immediately do things to upset those customers, just the opposite is true, he said. We’re not going to kill those products.
That’s been our position since day one, but I think we’re being a little clearer about it now, he added. We will not actually market PeopleSoft’s products for new customers, but we will continue to sell PeopleSoft products to whoever wants to buy them, if they’re new customers or existing customers.
Oracle intends to continue support for PeopleSoft software, in some cases longer than PeopleSoft intends to, but will give customers the option to migrate to similar Oracle applications for free.
An Oracle spokesperson said that the free migration offer will be for apples-to-apples swaps. Customers can switch to Oracle HR from PeopleSoft HR for no cost, for example, but if they wanted additional modules they would have to pay.
Ellison compared PeopleSoft to the Rdb database software it acquired from Digital Equipment Corp nine years ago, which is still supported and upgraded today. Oracle has not yet decided how or if it will charge PeopleSoft customers for future upgrades, the Oracle spokesperson said.
Ellison’s keynote came as news emerged that in the US, states attorneys general were to meet to discuss whether Oracle’s takeover of PeopleSoft raises concerns about anticompetitive behavior.
The state of Connecticut, a $100m PeopleSoft customer, is already suing Oracle on these grounds, and state attorney general Richard Blumenthal said last week he intends to assemble a coalition of his peers to pursue the action.
Representatives of the attorneys general of California, where Oracle and PeopleSoft are based, and Colorado, where JD Edwards & Co is based, said they would be involved in a private conference call yesterday to discuss the matter.
Oracle also yesterday removed an obstacle to the PeopleSoft deal. The offer originally would have been voided if PeopleSoft modified the terms of its friendly takeover of JD Edwards, which it has. Oracle said it would waive that condition.
An Oracle spokesperson said: The condition we have now waived was identified by the PeopleSoft board of directors as an important reason in declining to pursue discussions with us. We hope that with this waiver, PeopleSoft will finally agree to meet with us.
Ellison hinted in his keynote that Oracle would be prepared to increase its $6.3bn offer for PeopleSoft. When asked if the company would consider such a move, he said: Never say never… but we think the offer we have on the table is fully valued and very fair.
Source: Computerwire
