Posted on: Monday, April 12, 2004

Suit against Oracle may expand

Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The state governments of Ohio, Michigan and Connecticut want to join an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Oracle Corp.'s $9.4 billion bid for business software rival PeopleSoft Inc., saying they're trying to protect taxpayers.

The U.S. Justice Department and seven states, including Hawai'i, filed the suit in late February. It contends that an Oracle takeover of PeopleSoft would diminish competition and raise prices for software used by businesses to automate many administrative jobs.

The antitrust case centers on a narrow market definition that concludes only Oracle, PeopleSoft and Germany-based SAP are equipped to sell the complex business applications software required by major companies and government agencies. Oracle has rejected the lawsuit's claims, arguing that it would remain far smaller than SAP and still have to face competition from dozens of smaller vendors after a PeopleSoft takeover.