Oracle has effectively taken control of its ERP rival PeopleSoft after 75% of its shareholders accepted the company’s $10.3bn bid.
Just before Christmas, PeopleSoft founder David Duffield resigned as CEO and chairman, anticipating Oracle’s announcment that it had taken control of 75% of PeopleSoft stock after an 18 months dogfight.
Duffield had taken over as chief executive in October, when the PeopleSoft board dismissed the then CEO, Craig Conway, as Oracle turned up the pressure with its bid. In a subsequent filing with the SEC, Oracle announced it had dismissed four more PeopleSoft executives, including CFO Kevin Parker.
The others to go were co-president W. Phillip Wilmington, chief marketing officer Nanci Caldwell and general counsel James Shaughnessy. Oracle put its own co-presidents Charles Phillips and Safra Catz, plus CFO Harry You in charge of PeopleSoft to confirm that it had taken over control.
CMC InsightExec reports that Oracle will be able to shortcut formal approval of the takeover if it can get 90% of PeopleSoft shares tendered by mid-January. Attaining this target will allow Oracle to avoid holding an offical shareholder vote to close the deal, which could delay completion by several weeks.
