J D Edwards Co

Oracle Corp. executives reassured former PeopleSoft Inc. customers Tuesday that the newly combined company would continue to upgrade and support PeopleSoft products beyond 2008, when Oracle said it would release a merged set of business software. Speaking to thousands of customers gathered at Oracle's Redwood City, Calif., headquarters or watching over the Internet, Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison said the larger employee base would offer better support than PeopleSoft could have alone.

Oracle Corp. announced Tuesday that a key court hearing in its $6.3-billion hostile bid for rival business-software maker PeopleSoft Inc. has been indefinitely postponed by mutual agreement. A hearing had been scheduled for July 16 in Delaware Chancery Court to hear arguments in an Oracle lawsuit alleging that PeopleSoft's board breached its fiduciary duty to stockholders by resisting the company's unsolicited offer of $19.50 a share.

Oracle Corp. executives said Thursday that they expect to save money from the database giant's proposed $6.3-billion hostile takeover of PeopleSoft Inc. by gutting its sales and marketing budget. PeopleSoft spent $515 million last year on such efforts, more than 25% of the Pleasanton, Calif.-based company's 2002 sales.

Government antitrust lawyers turned one of Larry Ellison's best sales pitches against him Monday, showing a federal judge a videotaped prediction by the Oracle Corp. chief executive that only the largest software companies offering a wide variety of products would survive in the long run.

Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison said Tuesday that he wouldn't rule out upping his company's hostile tender offer for rival PeopleSoft Inc., reaffirming his determination to strike a deal even as antitrust regulators mulled over their response. Speaking to Oracle customers in London, Ellison said he believed the current $6.3-billion offer was "fully valued and very fair" and one most PeopleSoft shareholders would accept.

Oracle Corp. on Monday reported higher-than-expected fiscal second-quarter earnings, buoyed by strong sales of its core database software. Executives at the Redwood City, Calif.-based company credited most of the growth to rising optimism among corporate technology buyers, who are beginning to ramp up spending after three years of cutting back. Sales in the quarter ended Nov. 30 were $2.5 billion, up 8% from a year earlier.

PeopleSoft Inc. said Tuesday that its second-quarter profit plunged 70% amid weak customer demand that the business software maker blamed on distractions caused by rival Oracle Corp.'s $7.7-billion takeover bid. The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company had net income of $11 million, or 3 cents a share, for the three months ended June 30. That contrasts with about $37 million, or 11 cents a share, at the same time last year.

The software soap opera pitting PeopleSoft Inc. against its relentless suitor Oracle Corp. appears ready to heat up again, ending a brief lull in a drama that riveted Silicon Valley much of the summer. Both Pleasanton, Calif.-based PeopleSoft and Redwood City, Calif.-based Oracle are staging a series of largely scripted events during the next two weeks to sway industry analysts and corporate customers to their sides of the battle.

The Justice Department complicated Oracle Corp.'s proposed $6.3-billion hostile takeover of PeopleSoft Inc. on Monday by signaling that it has launched a full investigation into the antitrust ramifications of combining two of the top three business-software makers. The inquiry could delay Oracle's ability to execute its unsolicited cash tender offer, which stands at $19.50 a share.

Oracle Corp., the world's third-largest business software company, on Monday temporarily postponed its legal challenge to rival PeopleSoft Inc.'s "poison pill" takeover defense as U.S. regulators review the transaction now valued at about $7.5 billion. Oracle last month offered $19.50 a share for PeopleSoft, which took control of J.D. Edwards & Co. on July 18 in a $1.8-billion acquisition.