Oracle extends offer for PeopleSoft again

Oracle yesterday extended its controversial bid for enterprise resource software provider PeopleSoft, while both companies await the final judge's ruling in the Department of Justice (DoJ) anti-competition case.

The last offer, of $7.7bn, was due to expire today, but Oracle has now extended the deadline - for the tenth time - until 10 September.

A decision is expected in the next couple of weeks from US Judge Vaughn Walker to decide if Oracle can go ahead with its hostile takeover bid with the blessing of the DoJ.

The DoJ took Oracle to court in May claiming that its acquisition of PeopleSoft would create a duopoly between it and the market leader SAP in the enterprise applications market.

Oracle has argued that the DoJ's market definition is too narrow and excludes other players, such as Microsoft.

In a statement Oracle said that 21,690,141 PeopleSoft shares (around six per cent of shares outstanding) had been tendered in and not withdrawn from the offer since it launched its hostile takeover attempt in June of last year.