December 13, 2004 Oracle Gets PeopleSoft, At Last By Laurie Sullivan Courtesy of InformationWeek This morning, following last week's Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco, the software maker disclosed that it has signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire PeopleSoft Inc. for approximately $10.3 billion--$26.50 per share. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and should close by early January. Oracle and PeopleSoft combined will become the world's second-largest business-software maker, a space firmly dominated by Germany's SAP. The announcement came Monday as lawyers for both groups were due to appear in court in Delaware, as Oracle battled to eliminate legal and financial obstacles put in the way by a hostile PeopleSoft board. "Today we announced both a great quarter and the agreement to acquire PeopleSoft. This merger gives Oracle even more scale and momentum," Ellison said in a statement. "The real highlight of our most recent quarter was the 57% growth in our applications business, and this merger is going to make that applications business bigger and stronger." Ellison said on an adjusted pro forma basis, Oracle expects this merger to be 1 cent accretive in the fourth quarter of this year, about 2 cents a quarter or 8 cents per year in the following year. "This merger works because we will have more customers, which increases our ability to invest more in applications development and support," Ellison said. "We intend to enhance PeopleSoft 8 and develop a PeopleSoft 9 and enhance a J.D. Edwards 5 and develop a J.D. Edwards 6. We intend to immediately extend and improve support for existing J.D. Edwards and PeopleSoft customers worldwide." Oracle said it is amending its current tender offer for all outstanding shares of PeopleSoft to expire at midnight EST on Dec. 28. As of the close of business on Friday, Dec. 10, approximately 120.6 million shares had been tendered in and not withdrawn from the offer. E-mail This Story Print This Story Reprint This Story			Oracle President: It's Business As Usual PeopleSoft Battle Moves To Next Phase Takeover Attempt Could Drag On For Months PeopleSoft Board Rejects Oracle Takeover Bid, Despite Shareholder Support Oracle Makes Late Pitch For PeopleSoft Shareholders Oracle President Talks PeopleSoft, Product Plans Editorial and vendor perspectives Now that Oracle has completed the takeover of PeopleSoft, what should its top priorities be? Meeting with customers to understand their concerns and priorities     32% Integrating the respective product lines     13% Giving clear direction on where the combined company is headed     51% Other     3% Oracle's Customer Crusade Company outlines ambitious program to develop a suite of merged software.