Conway to Ellison: It's over
Published: 28 Aug 2003 15:50 BST
Outside of Arnold Schwarzenegger's unexpected bid to become California's next governor, Oracle's similarly unexpected bid for rival PeopleSoft has provided Silicon Valley with some of the most riveting entertainment of the summer.
But for PeopleSoft chief executive Craig Conway, fending off the hostile takeover launched by his former employer has provided him with the professional challenge of a lifetime.
Only days after PeopleSoft announced an agreement to acquire J.D. Edwards in June, Oracle announced its own surprise tender offer for PeopleSoft. In the scramble that followed, lawyers and publicists for both sides fanned out to win support from customers, Wall Street and regulatory authorities.
Oracle's tender offer is set to expire 19 September, and Ellison has vowed to fight this out -- even if it takes another year. In the meantime, PeopleSoft, reaping the benefit of an accelerated merger timetable, expects to complete its acquisition of J.D. Edwards by the end of this week.
The completion of the merger would establish PeopleSoft at the No. 2 spot in the multibillion-dollar market for business-management software, behind German rival SAP. Oracle had commanded that spot for years.
For 48-year-old Conway, who worked for Ellison until 1992, the close of this summertime saga is a particular source of satisfaction. Appointed PeopleSoft chief executive in 1999, he is widely credited with leading a revival of this one-time highflier. But orchestrating a flawless $1.8bn (£1.14bn) merger with J.D. Edwards may be regarded as an even bigger feather in Conway's cap -- that is, if he can pull it off.
Even without Ellison breathing down his neck, Conway still faces a panoply of complicated staff integration and product marketing issues. He also has to keep investors and customers happy while sorting through the issues that are bound to crop up in a merger of this scale. CNET News.com spoke to Conway to get a status report about the battle with Oracle and his plans for the future.
Q: Clearly, you don't welcome Larry Ellison's bid for PeopleSoft, but do you respect his strategy or him as a businessman? Would you do the same thing in his position?
A: No.
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