This is from PSFT.
Oracle Seeks a Truckload of Talent
By Medora Lee
Staff Reporter
2/22/99 11:00 AM ET
SAN FRANCISCO -- When Oracle (ORCL:Nasdaq) says it will
grow its applications business, it means business.
For the past week, Oracle has been circling PeopleSoft
(PSFT:Nasdaq) headquarters in Pleasanton, Calif., with a truck
flashing a chart showing the decline of PeopleSoft shares from 57 7/16 in April to just
over 17 recently and saying, "Want real
Momentum? Join Oracle, where great people thrive."
Momentum in this case refers to PeopleSoft's November decision to take a $225
million charge to spin off a research-and-development subsidiary called Momentum
Business Applications. Many in the industry, including Oracle CFO Jeff Henley, have
suggested that the move amounts to little more than a gimmick allowing PeopleSoft to
spend more on R&D without having to account for it against future earnings.
Oracle's big truck is part of an aggressive, take-no-prisoners
campaign by the database-software giant to lure bright new
employees into its applications camp. So far, the truck has been spotted only around
PeopleSoft's premises, although an Oracle spokeswoman says the campaign isn't
directed only at PeopleSoft. Oracle's statement on the campaign said: "In addition to
traditional recruitment methods, Oracle has introduced a 'rolling billboard' to travel
throughout the Bay Area to alert people that Oracle has positions available immediately
for talented, qualified candidates to join the Oracle Applications team."
Aggressive marketing is nothing new to Oracle. In 1994, the company battled
database rival Informix (IFMX:Nasdaq) on billboards lining U.S. Highway 101 from
Silicon Valley to San Francisco International Airport. Informix put up billboards calling
itself "The Best Database Technology on 101." Other billboards showed pictures of
the inside of a car with the word "Oracle" in the rearview mirror and dinosaurs walking
toward the company's headquarters. The ad read: "Warning: Dinosaurs crossing."
Oracle struck back. It parked a mobile billboard in front of Informix's Menlo Park,
Calif., headquarters for a day that read "Informix: The best database company on
Highway 101? ... As
Seen in Snail Systems," alluding to a then-Oracle campaign that
claimed competitors' systems were as slow as snails. That war of
the billboards raged on even through 1997, long after Informix's stock tumbled due to
sharp losses and earnings restatements.
Oracle's applications business finally showed signs of life when it
last reported earnings. In December, Oracle said its applications
business grew 19% in the second quarter after being flat in the
previous two quarters. Oracle wants to make sure that growth
continues, particularly since year-over-year comparisons in the
second half of Oracle's fiscal year will be tougher due to a 33%
growth rate in its applications business in the third quarter of fiscal 1998, analysts say.
Analysts are generally forecasting applications will grow 20% in the third quarter.
Fourth-quarter comparisons should get easier again, they say.
But by aiming at PeopleSoft first, Oracle is taking on a big challenge. PeopleSoft
employees are notoriously loyal and happy
workers. PeopleSoft was named the sixth-best company to work for by Fortune
magazine in 1998, up from 20th in 1997, despite a steep drop in the company's stock
price. PeopleSoft employees took the decline in stock price in stride, saying in the
Fortune article that the stock slide was "a great buying opportunity."
OK, so Oracle's stock price has doubled since September. But
Oracle wasn't even ranked in Fortune's list of 50 best places towork. That omission
must have really hurt because its rival Microsoft (MSFT:Nasdaq) -- the company that
so many in the software industry love to hate -- was 27th on the list.
PeopleSoft doesn't seem surprised with Oracle's assault. "Our competitors know
PeopleSoft employees are the finest in the
industry," says Kip Meintzer, investor relations director, who sees
the trucks every day on his way to work. "We obtain 75% of our employees through
referrals, with the balance from our Web site.
Oracle, they use trucks."
Whether Oracle succeeds in stealing away good help from its competitors amid a labor
shortage in the high-tech market won't be
known for probably at least a few months, an Oracle spokeswoman
says. But what is known now is that those notoriously treacherous Bay waters are
likely to grow even more so as the battle for highly
skilled applications workers heats up. |
