By silicon.com, 22 June 2004 17:15
In the sometimes staid world of big business, Oracle boss Larry Ellison can often be relied upon for some light relief - often in the form of bullish criticism of his rivals or brutal honesty about the industry.
That honesty is certainly adding a little interest to proceedings in the court case currently investigating Oracle's aggressive attempted takeover of PeopleSoft.
A videotaped deposition from Ellison was played to the court and made for interesting viewing - not least because Ellison was candid about other acquisition targets his company has and the manner in which such deals are conducted.
If you ever assumed these deals are brokered during lengthy boardroom discussions, it turns out you're a little wide of the mark.
"Tom Siebel came to my house and tried to sell me Siebel," said Ellison, making it sound like Siebel was trying to shift nothing more consequential than tea towels, mops or girl-guide cookies.
We assume he let Siebel step in off his doorstep, but even still it seems incredibly laid-back as a means of instigating a potential multi-billion dollar deal.
And this slightly random-factor approach to conducting business was no one-off.
During his deposition, Ellison confirmed that Safra Catz, Oracle's co-president, had called J.D. Edwards about a possible acquisition prior to PeopleSoft's announcing its plans to acquire the mid-market player. But J.D. Edwards never returned Catz's call.
This creates an image of a forgotten Post-it note, under a pile of books and papers, which perhaps states something along the lines of: "Somebody from Oracle called, said they want to buy us, can you give him a call back on 555-1234."
It's almost a case of 'you couldn't make it up' - and surely Larry wouldn't exaggerate.
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