Oracle ready to do more large deals
By John Shinal, MarketWatch
Last Update: 5:07 PM ET May 16, 2005
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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Oracle Corp. Chairman Jeff Henley told investors late Monday that the database software giant is ready to make other large acquisitions, now that its integration of former rival PeopleSoft "is over."
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"We have the capacity to do more large deals," Henley told an audience of money managers gathered for the J.P. Morgan technology investment conference in San Francisco.
Although Oracle (ORCL: news, chart, profile) indicated that it isn't currently evaluating any large acquisition opportunities, Henley said "we've absorbed PeopleSoft. If another deal came along, we're ready."
Oracle acquired PeopleSoft for more than $10 billion earlier this year after a bitter 18-month takeover battle.
The length of the takeover fight gave Oracle lots of time to plan the integration, which is one reason why the company was able to identify where to cut staff and merge operations within 100 days of closing the deal, according to Henley.
"We think the integration is over. We're basically done," he said.
Henley also left open the possibility that Oracle will pay a dividend in the future, although he added that doing so "doesn't make sense for us right now."
"At some point in time, we'll probably pay a dividend," he added.
Shares of Oracle closed Monday at $12.35, down a penny.
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