Oracle 'remains committed' to PeopleSoft bid
Published: 25 Nov 2003 09:45 GMT
Oracle remains committed to acquiring PeopleSoft despite a number of obstacles and a protracted regulatory review of the proposed merger, Oracle executives said on Monday.
On a conference call for securities analysts, three top Oracle executives emphasised their resolve to complete the unsolicited deal and accused PeopleSoft management of eroding the value of the company with a controversial money-back guarantee programme.
"We remain committed to acquiring PeopleSoft," Oracle executive vice president Chuck Phillips said. "There is no merit to the proposition that the deal is dead."
The call followed recent media reports speculating that the US Department of Justice may challenge the deal and that PeopleSoft's revised guarantee programme could deter Oracle.
Oracle plans to finish submitting information for the Justice Department's antitrust review in the next few weeks and expects a decision from the regulatory body in January, executive vice president Safra Catz said on the call. Oracle also expects the European Commission, the Justice Department's counterpart in Europe, will take less than the four months it's allowed to issue a ruling under its extended review process, she added.
The company also plans to nominate an alternative slate of directors for PeopleSoft's board in January in order to comply with PeopleSoft's new shortened nomination deadline, Catz said. A shareholder vote on the board seats is scheduled for the company's next shareholders meeting in June.
Oracle chief financial officer Jeff Henley accused PeopleSoft executives of obscuring PeopleSoft's financial performance to boost shareholder support for its merger with J.D. Edwards. Henley also said PeopleSoft may have improperly accounted for revenue during its third quarter because of the way it revised its customer rebate programme. The programme, which PeopleSoft started in June, would refund customers as much as five times the cost of their software if a company were to acquire PeopleSoft and discontinue its products.
In an October filing to Securities and Exchange Commission, PeopleSoft said it had amended the programme, making it possible to trigger refunds without PeopleSoft being acquired. PeopleSoft should not have recognised revenue under the new refund conditions, Oracle argued.
"We believe they have a revenue recognition problem," Henley said.
PeopleSoft said it never actually made itself liable for the refunds in its customer contracts, but had misworded a description of the revised plan in a filing with the SEC. The company has corrected the mistake in the filing, said DeeAnna McPherson, a PeopleSoft spokeswoman.
"We're very confident that our revenue has been recognised appropriately," McPherson said.
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