Oracle: compulsive acquirer
No company in the tech industry has been such a nonstop acquirer of other companies over the last few years as Oracle Corporation. The database company keeps buying new companies, in multibillion dollar deals and in deals costing only a few million. Oracle has spent almost $20 billion in the last two years alone, acquiring related firms, most notably PeopleSoft Inc. ($10.3 billion) and Siebel Systems ($5.8 billion). Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is trying to go beyond databases build a corporate software system that handles everything from HR to accounting, from purchasing to shipping. The object is to compete on every front with German rival SAP, the leader in the field of corporate software.
Oracle's big advantage is that it has a presence in databases, in business applications, and in the so-called "middleware" that connects desktop applications and databases. So far, SAP has no presence in databases.
The job of integrating these new acquisitions into the corporation falls to John Wookey, senior vice-president in charge of applications for Oracle. In a portrait in BusinessWeek ( "The Hardest Job In Silicon Valley", 1/23/06) goes into the difficult workings of integrating corporate cultures and development ideas. As the article sums up his job, it is a very difficult one:
To get Oracle's market share growing, Wookey must build a new suite of software applications -- using the latest technology and drawing the best from each of the acquired companies. He has to persuade customers to wait for him to finish his task and then gradually switch more of their computing jobs to run on Oracle software. And he has to fend off SAP, which is attempting to take advantage of customers' uncertainty and pick them off.
Among the things he has accomplished is holding on to the best software writers in the acquired companies. He is generally given good marks for bringing in new pieces and fitting them with Oracle's own back ends.
One interesting move is Oracle's move into open source software, most commonly written for Linux systems. Open source databases, especially MySQL, are starting to compete with Oracle. It has made several buys in that market, including Innobase, a close ally of MySQL.. It also tried to buy out software company JBoss, and Ellison got very upset when he was beaten out by open source Limux-supplier Red Hat.
Recent Oracle Acquistions
