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Breaking News: Ellison's $8.8 BN Is Oracle's "Best and Final" Offer for PeopleSoft

First-ever deadline set by Oracle for acceptance: midnight November 19
By Oracle News Desk
Article Rating:
November 1, 2004 12:00 AM EST
Reads:
 15,822

It began at at $16 a share. Then twice it went up to $26 a share, before ending at for the past few months at $21.

"It" is Oracle's tender offer for PeopleSoft shares. And now it has just gone to a new position of $24. This really, truly, madly, deeply is Oracle's final offer, apparently. The bid values PeopleSoft at $8.8 billion.

Additionally Oracle's Larry Ellison and Chairman Jeff Henley have written to the PeopleSoft board saying said Oracle will drop most of the conditions to the offer (though not the demand that PeopleSoft drops its poison pill and other obstacles to the takeover.)

"The PeopleSoft board of directors is the only obstacle to stockholder consideration of our offer,'' Ellison and Henley wrote.

The $24 ball now lies in the PeopleSoft board's court. For the first time ever there is a deadline on the offer: if a majority of shares have not been tendered by midnight Nov. 19, the offer will be withdrawn. 

According to Reuters, This is the first time since the bid was launched in June 2003 that Oracle has set such a deadline.

Today's news follows hard on the heels of last week's news that the 25-member European Commission (EC) would reportedly announce the removal the last remaining obstacle in Europe to Oracle's hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft, after a year-long review of the deal. News which in turn followed shortly after the US court ruling against the Justice Department and in favor of the Oracle bid going ahead. 
 

Published November 1, 2004 – Reads 15,822
Copyright © 2004 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
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Most Recent Comments
flying_trader 11/01/04 08:50:37 AM EST

Hehe, Larry's hoping PeopleSft reject it. He doesn't want to do the deal, he wants out, but has to at least make a decent offer... my guess is this really is his final offer...
borlandforever 11/01/04 08:48:46 AM EST

Larry should buy BEA instead. A much better deal.
rb39256 11/01/04 08:25:38 AM EST

Get a life Larry. Fix your own apps instead of trying to kill your strongest domestic competition. If your products were really that strong, then you'd be able to compete better against PeopleSoft and SAP. Invest the $$ in re-engineering the Oracle apps, the same as PeopleSoft did, and perhaps you'll catch up with PeopleSoft one day. And perhaps you'll get an ounce of respect from the investment community and you'll break free from the $12/share range.

PeopleSoft's current customers will never let any takeover attempt go unchallenged. These companies have invested far too much in the PeopleSoft apps to allow some renegade moron to come along and kill the brand.
jjj96555 11/01/04 08:24:28 AM EST

This is Larry's final, final offer again. (Not.)