Sunday, April 17, 2005

SAP dismisses talk of merger with Oracle

SAP was full of denials at its press meeting this week. In addition to its denial of plans to launch a hosted CRM service, it also denied a report in a German magazine that SAP and Oracle were considering a merger.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, however, SAP CEO Henning Kagermann said he would listen to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison if a merger was proposed, and that it's an everyday part of his job to consider all proposals that could benefit shareholders.

Because of anti-trust laws, I can't imagine the U.S. Department of Justice would allow an Oracle/SAP merger, but...I also said that about Oracle's hostile bid for PeopleSoft.

Kagermann also played down the significance of Oracle victory over SAP in the bidding war for Retek, a leading software provider for the retail industry. He indicated that because SAP didn't really need Retek to continue development of its retail industry functionality, it was free to walk away from the deal if it got too expensive. On the other hand, he said that Oracle was so desperate for Retek that it was willing to over-pay.

Related posts
SAP denies plan for CRM on demand
SAP walks away from Retek deal

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