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| | | June 22, 2003
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Sunday, June 22, 2003 |
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Oracle vs. PeopleSoft: the high-tech turmoil aggravates
The fierce acquisition battle between three of the world's largest business software makers, PeopleSoft, Oracle and J.D. Edwards, continued to dominate technology news headlines for the third week in a row.
After refusing to accept a $5.1 billion hostile takeover bid from Oracle, PeopleSoft reaffirmed its original commitment to acquire Colorado-based J.D. Edwards & Co. and amended its initial merger plan. According to the new terms, J.D. Edwards shareholders will get $863 million in cash and roughly $887 million in stock. The altered deal, widely seen as a response to Oracle's unsolicited offer, will remove the need for PeopleSoft shareholders' approval of the buyout. Oracle immediately denounced the amendment, claiming PeopleSoft's management is reluctant to let shareholders vote on the plan. Nevertheless, PeopleSoft noted Oracle's bid was not a factor in the decision making process, saying the change will help the company streamline the acquisition process, more rapidly integrate J.D. Edwards' products and accelerate planned cost savings.
On Wednesday, Oracle demonstrated the seriousness of its offer and raised its bid for California-based PeopleSoft to $19.50 per share (a total of $6.3 billion in cash). At the same time, the software maker filed lawsuits against the directors of both PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards for attempting to rescind the ability of PeopleSoft's shareholders to approve the takeover. In addition, Oracle showed a considerable effort to allay customers' concerns, saying it will continue to support, develop and improve PeopleSoft products "into the next decade."
PeopleSoft's clients, however, most of which representing large enterprises, educational institutions and government agencies, were angered by the perseverance of Larry Ellison's company. The state of Connecticut, which has signed a five-year contract with PeopleSoft worth $100 million, launched an antitrust suit against Oracle, alleging a potential takeover will significantly increase software prices and shatter competition on the market.
Two days after receiving the improved offer, PeopleSoft's board of directors unanimously refused to accept the bid, citing potentially protracted scrutiny from federal regulators, highly possible rejection of the merger, significant risk and uncertainty that could substantially damage the company's business, and dissatisfaction with the $19.50 per share price. Numerous PeopleSoft shareholders noted they are unlikely to approve an Oracle acquisition offer, unless Larry Ellison proposes a considerably higher bid of $25 to $30 per share.
More from: CNET News.com 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 | CRN | eWeek | InfoWorld | InternetNews.com 1 2 3 4 5 | Reuters 1 2 3 4 | VNUNET.com 1 2 3 | The Washington Post 1 2 | ZDNet
U.S. authorities, Microsoft move to crack down on junk mail
Microsoft went on the offensive this week, filing 15 lawsuits against 13 bulk mailers in the United States and 2 in the United Kingdom. The software giant alleges the spammers sent deceptive messages with misleading subject lines and spoofed sender addresses, and illegally harvested e-mails from the web. According to the company, combined, the unsolicited messages sent by the defendants amount to over 2 billion. The lawsuits come as Microsoft announced new commitments on fighting spam, launching a new European Union initiative to coordinate approaches on curbing junk mail, and declaring it will offer help to governments in Asia draft strong anti-spam legislation.
Meanwhile, in the United States, federal legislators are mulling over a multitude of proposed bills, which are to help both individual companies and authorities clamp down on spam. On Thursday, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee unanimously passed the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act, which gives Internet Service Providers and government agencies such as the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) greater authority to combat the growing menace. CAN-SPAM will enable spam victims to sue bulk mailers who harvest e-mail addresses or forge e-mail messages' headers. Violators would get up to one year in prison and $1 million fines. The bill will now be introduced before the full U.S. Senate for final approval.
Several civil organizations, however, appealed to U.S. legislators to set more stringent measures. Numerous consumer-protection coalitions are fighting to oblige e-marketers to send messages only to individuals who opt-in. Current U.S. legislations simply demands the inclusion of a working opt-out method, which lets potential customers get off the mailing list.
Tougher legislation is currently being discussed in a number of U.S. Senate committees. The Criminal Spam Act (CSA), for example, proposes up to five years in prison and $25,000 fines per day for spammers.
More from: CNET News.com 1 2 3 4 | ComputerWorld | IDG.net | InternetNews.com 1 2 | Reuters | VNUNET.com 1 2 | The Washington Post 1 2 3
SCO expands IBM lawsuit
Living up to its promise, the SCO Group declared on Monday it had revoked IBM's license to use, develop and sell its version of UNIX, AIX, raising the ante in the high-profile lawsuit against the world's biggest computer company. Utah-based SCO, which owns copyrights to the UNIX operating system, launched a billion dollar legal pursuit against IBM in March, alleging breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets, resulting from the computer maker's involvement with Linux.
On its part, IBM announced its UNIX license is perpetual and irrevocable, alleviating the fears of its customers they might also end up as defendants in copyright infringement lawsuits.
At the same time, SCO amended its original complaint against IBM, seeking $3 billion in damages: $1 billion for breach of contract by IBM, $1 billion for breach of a contract signed by Sequent, a company later acquired by IBM, and $1 billion for unfair competition.
SCO's allegations come as analysts, who were allowed to see "evidence" supporting the Utah company's case, are split on its merit.
More from: CNET News.com 1 2 3 4 | InfoWorld | eWeek | InternetNews.com | Reuters | VNUNET.com 1 2 3 4 | Wired News
In Other News...
 Internet search company Google launched an expansion of its contextual ad services, allowing owners of small web sites automatically place targeted ads on their web pages. Google's AdSense program will enable small and medium-sized businesses use unobtrusive and highly-relevant text links from its network of over 100,000 advertisers.
A new bill introduced before the U.S. Congress seeks to add copyright infringement monitoring responsibilities to the duties of the Federal Bureau for Investigation (FBI). The Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2003 will make the FBI go after illegal distribution of intellectual property, develop programs to inhibit Internet traffic of copyrighted materials and enhance information sharing between other law enforcement agencies.
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