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Technology Stocks : Oracle Corporation (ORCL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michael Olin who wrote (9679)	2/26/1999 10:34:00 AM
From: Bipin Prasad	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 19080

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.