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Watching Oracle Try To Acquire BEA Beats Reruns Of Dynasty

The IT world has its own versions of young, hot celebrities (Google, the iPhone) and they often take attention away from the less flashy yet equally important world of business software. Thank goodness we've got Oracle to keep things interesting.

Strap in, because we could be set for a few more weeks (or even months) of semi-hostile takeover drama unfolding with Oracle's pursuit of BEA Systems. We've got tersely worded correspondence flying between Oracle President Charles Phillips and BEA Systems' VP William Klein. We've got a planned meeting between the two Friday morning that never happened. And the letters made public include so many references to Oracle wanting to keep it a "friendly" transaction that we know, in reality, that this is high-tension, poker-faced, boardroom drama at its best. There was no back slapping and drinks on the golf course over this proposed deal. But that's what makes it so intriguing, isn't it?

So who will make the next move? This much we know: 1) BEA wants more than the $17 per share Oracle has offered; 2) Oracle will remain "friendly" if the deal moves quickly and on its own terms; 3) BEA doesn't want a prolonged drama à la Peoplesoft, yet 4) It's not going to be forced into quickly consummating a deal on Oracle's terms. Oracle plays tough but smart, and it's probably budgeted a few more dollars per share than the initial offer.

Meanwhile, in other equally dramatic episodes, we've got the ongoing lawsuit of Oracle accusing SAP of "corporate theft on a grand scale." We've got Oracle marching on in its unapologetic quest for software industry domination, having acquired some 30 companies for around $25 billion or so in the last several years. We watch with bated breath as to how SAP, Microsoft, and IBM will react to Oracle's bold moves. Bloggers Dan Farber and Larry Dignan over at ZDnet even suggest that it could inspire a merger between IBM and SAP.

With Oracle, we've got the main characters of the rakish Larry Ellison and the dashing Charles Phillips. After I wrote a piece in July on Oracle, with a big focus on Phillips, a woman from another software company called to tell me she was envious of my access because she had "such a big crush on Charles." You think Google's Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt have fans with hearts dancing in their eyes?

Watching Oracle, in fact, brings me back to watching the '80s night-time soap drama Dynasty as a teenager. It was the first time I heard that phrase "hostile takeover," and I was intrigued by the concept. How could a company be acquired against its will, I wondered? Ha-ha, what an innocent goof I was.

So thanks, Oracle. In between the industry's sometimes dry discussions of service-oriented architectures and best practices in data management, you help keep things spicy in the world of corporate software.

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