By Ron Coates, 12 June 2003 17:07
NEWS The PeopleSoft board today announced its unanimous rejection of the 'unsolicited' $5.1bn bid for the company by Oracle. The statement said that the bid "dramatically" undervalues the company and "raises significant anti-trust issues both in the United States and Europe". And it complained that the delays and the fact that Oracle had announced that it would discontinue PeopleSoft products "creates uncertainty for PeopleSoft's customers". Craig Conway, PeopleSoft CEO, said in the statement: "Oracle's offer seeks to enrich Oracle at the expense of PeopleSoft's stockholders, customers and employees. We believe that Oracle's proposed acquisition of PeopleSoft would stifle competition and limit customer choice. "PeopleSoft remains steadfastly focused on providing customers with superior products and services and we will not let Oracle's tactics interfere with our business." SAP today started to take advantage of PeopleSoft customers' uncertainty with an ad campaign starting in the Wall Street Journal. The German company reckons that it pulled in 20 major Baan customers when that rival was taken over by Invensys. A PeopleSoft spokesman today would make no specific comment about the SAP move but re-emphasised the company's commitment to its customers and the merger with JD Edwards. On Wednesday, PeopleSoft filed notice with the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department of its plans to acquire JD Edwards.
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