Boy, that Larry sure is a shrewd business man! Does he have a drinking problem? Can you believe June or July of next year?
What the expletive is he thinking?
PALO ALTO, Calif. (Dow Jones)--The Justice Department won't rule on Oracle Corp. (NasdaqNM:ORCL - News)'s plan to buy PeopleSoft Inc. (NasdaqNM:PSFT - News) until late November or December, Oracle Executive Vice President Chuck Phillips said Thursday.
"We're not sure how it is going to come out," Phillips said at a Banc of America Securites-sponsored investor event Thursday evening. However, "We still believe if we can get approval on the deal, everything else is doable."
Phillips said Justice Department regulators continue to receive data and opinions on the deal from Oracle and Oracle competitors as they decided whether the $7.3 billion combination runs afoul of antitrust laws. Oracle launched a $ 16-a-share tender offer for the company in early June and sweetened its offer to $19.50 a share a few weeks later. PeopleSoft management continues to reject the takeover attempt.
Regulators "are getting flooded right now," Phillips said. "There are people other than PeopleSoft who don't want to see this happen."
Phillips said he held an update call with the regulators Thursday and that Oracle continues to provide them information.
If the Justice Department approves the deal, the remaining hurdle will be to get PeopleSoft's poison pill removed, and "there are multiple ways to do that."
One way is to continue in court, but there are other ways that "we don't think they know about," he said.
If the tender offer turns to a proxy fight, it could last to June or July of next year, he said. |
