Oracle Corp. will indeed turn to Microsoft Corp. for help in fending off the U.S. Department of Justice as it attempts to acquire PeopleSoft Inc.—just as it will turn to others it has named as competitors in the enterprise resource planning applications market.
Oracle spokeswoman Jennifer Glass confirmed that Oracle will appeal to archrival Microsoft to provide the Justice Department with information regarding its plans to expand its small and midsize applications business to larger enterprises. But, Glass said, Oracle will seek similar information from others in the ERP sector.
“We intend generally to take discovery from major players in the industry,” said Glass, in Redwood Shores, Calif.
The company said it will seek information from such ERP competitors as Lawson Software Inc., ADP TotalSource Group Inc., Baan, GEAC Computer Corp. Ltd., Hyperion Software Corp. and Kronos Inc.
The Justice Department said last week it will seek a federal injunction to block Oracle’s $9.4 billion hostile bid to acquire rival PeopleSoft, on the grounds that the deal would be anticompetitive to the software industry. R. Hewitt Pate, assistant attorney general leading the charge against Oracle, said the Justice Department determined only three players compete in top-level deals: Oracle, PeopleSoft and German software giant SAP AG.
The Justice Department did not consider midmarket players in its investigation, according to Pate.