By Michael Kanellos, 11 June 2003 07:23
NEWS PeopleSoft has canceled its plans to appear in court Tuesday to seek a temporary restraining order against Oracle and its $5.1bn bid Oracle said that PeopleSoft's lawyers had told the company of their intention to file a complaint in Alameda Superior Court to get a suspension of Oracle's bid. But the PeopleSoft legal team then failed to appear. "We are hopeful that this apparent change in course indicates that the PeopleSoft board will be willing to meet with us to discuss our offer," Safra Catz, an Oracle executive vice president, said in a statement. "We have made an all-cash, fully financed offer to the PeopleSoft shareholders. We believe that the PeopleSoft board can best serve those shareholders by recommending acceptance of our offer." A representative for PeopleSoft declined to comment on its legal strategy, but said the company's board will review Oracle's offer and make a recommendation in due course. The Oracle-PeopleSoft saga began last week after Pleasanton, Calif.-based PeopleSoft announced it intended to buy rival J.D. Edwards for $1.7 billion and in the process leap ahead of Oracle in the business application market. Two days later, Oracle announced it had launched its own attempt to acquire PeopleSoft and move the company's existing customers to Oracle products. The takeover bid expires July 7. PeopleSoft CEO (and former Oracle employee) Craig Conway denounced the move as "atrociously bad behavior." Michael Kanellos writes for news.com
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