Oracle Corp

Oracle Corp. is negotiating with lenders to help finance its $10.3-billion acquisition of PeopleSoft Inc., Oracle said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. PeopleSoft, of Pleasanton, Calif., accepted a $26.50-a-share offer to end an 18-month takeover battle. Oracle expects to complete the purchase in January, creating the No. 2 provider of business-applications software behind Germany's SAP. Credit Suisse First Boston has arranged a $1.

Oracle Corp.'s $7.25-billion hostile offer to acquire PeopleSoft Inc. may not clear an antitrust investigation by the Justice Department until November, Oracle Executive Vice President Chuck Phillips said. Oracle, the world's third-largest software maker, is compiling information about the software industry and the markets in which it operates, as the Justice Department has requested, Phillips said. The timing may mean that Redwood City, Calif.-based Oracle will have to extend its bid. On Aug.

Microsoft Corp. executives have given U.S. antitrust authorities a sworn statement that could help the government's effort to block Oracle Corp.'s bid to buy PeopleSoft Inc., attorneys familiar with the case said. Microsoft's statement to the Justice Department undercuts one of Oracle's central arguments in defense of the $9.4-billion deal -- that the two companies soon will face competition from Microsoft for a crucial part of their business.

Oracle Corp. said fiscal second-quarter earnings rose 31%, in line with what analysts expected for the world's largest maker of database software. Oracle said net income for the three months ended Nov. 30 rose to $179.5 million, or 27 cents a share, from $136.9 million, or 20 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Sales rose 35%, to $1.31 billion from $967.2 million in the year-ago quarter. The Redwood Shores company said applications license revenue led the growth, rising 77%.

Database software power Oracle Corp. will license financially troubled Borland International Inc.'s computer programming languages and software development tools to develop Internet applications, the companies said. Borland Chief Executive Del Yocam called the deal a big boost for his company. "We believe this licensing agreement is the start of a new beginning," Yocam said.

Oracle Corp. is expected to announce on Monday that it plans to buy a unit of Netscape Communications Corp. that designs Internet-access devices, industry executives said. The chief executives of both companies--Oracle's Larry Ellison and Netscape's James Barksdale--plan to hold a news conference Monday. Netscape and Oracle representatives declined to say what will be discussed. However, executives close to the companies said the Network Computer Inc.

A former Oracle Corp. executive assistant was convicted of forging an e-mail message to support her claim that she was fired for ending a relationship with Chief Executive Larry Ellison. Adelyn Lee, 33, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 27 on two counts of perjury, one count of falsifying evidence and one count of breaking into a computer network. She could spend up to six years in prison.

Oracle Corp. said it hired Avalanche PR, a newly formed 20-person joint venture, to oversee its public relations as the software company works to expand its marketing worldwide. Applied Communications Corp., the database software maker's former public relations firm, resigned to "pursue other new business opportunities," the company said in a statement. Palo Alto-based Avalanche, a joint venture formed this week by Cunningham Communications Inc.

Volume soared Tuesday for options betting that shares of No. 1 database software maker Oracle Corp. will fall as traders and investors speculated that the company would report negative news. The volume of put options for June surged to 12,954, or 15 times their three-month daily average of 814. Put options are the right to sell shares at a specified price and date. Investors in puts are betting that the company's shares will fall. "Those puts are very expensive. They're expensive for a reason.