PeopleSoft Releases More Oracle E-Mail

The internal discourse captures Oracle executives thumping their chests as they take potshots at PeopleSoft. The dialogue also reflects an early Oracle push to sway industry analysts who advise businesses on their software purchases in an apparent attempt to decrease PeopleSoft's sales and make the hostile bid more appealing.

Virtually all of the most inflammatory snippets were released last month as part of a PeopleSoft lawsuit against Oracle. The e-mail was made public as part of the civil suit's discovery process.

PeopleSoft then sought to release the full texts of the E-mails - a request Oracle initially resisted in a court hearing earlier this month before relenting last Wednesday.

Pleasanton, Calif.-based PeopleSoft distributed the messages to the media Thursday as part of its continuing campaign to depict Oracle as a rich bully muscling in on a rival's turf at the expense of customers who rely on PeopleSoft products.

An Oracle spokeswoman on Thursday brushed off the mail as old news and reiterated the company's intention to improve the customer support for PeopleSoft's existing products.

The $19.50-per-share takeover offer is on hold until the Justice Department assesses how the proposed combination will affect the $20 billion market for business applications software. Oracle expects regulators to issue a decision in late October or early November.

Oracle had spent $19.6 million pursuing the bid through August, according to Securities and Exchange Commission documents filed Thursday.

The remainder of the E-mails unsealed this week contain Oracle's internal acknowledgments about how difficult it might be for PeopleSoft customers to switch to different software products.

"I'm sure it's not as easy as (Oracle chairman Larry Ellison) was trying to make it sound like," Peggy O'Neill, Oracle's vice president of investor relations, wrote in an E-mail the day after the company revealed its takeover plans.

Oracle has said it won't force PeopleSoft customers to change software, if the takeover is successful.

The E-mails also contain internal market share assessments that illustrate why Oracle believes a PeopleSoft acquisition will help bolster its market share.

When the Oracle and PeopleSoft were vying for the same customers, Oracle lost more deals than it won in a nine-month stretch ending in February, according to a June 10 E-mail. At one point, PeopleSoft was winning 55 percent of the head-to-head deals, according to the E-mail.

Oracle finally rebounded to take a slight edge in the three months ended in May, "but there isn't a steady trend," the E-mail said.

In an E-mail on June 7, O'Neill predicted the takeover bid would help Oracle gain the upper hand.

"Our launching this hostile takeover attempt really highlights (PeopleSoft's) weakness," she wrote. "Even if we don't end up closing the deal, this is going to take (PeopleSoft) time to recover."

PeopleSoft maintains it is stronger than ever as it begins to digest a $1.8 billion acquisition of another business software maker, J.D. Edwards.

For more on this story, see CRN's PeopleSoft News Center.

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