Blog: Oracle Rumored To Be Eyeing SAP BuyoutBlog: Oracle Rumored To Be Eyeing SAP Buyout

Here's a boost for adrenaline junkies: Reports surfaced Wednesday that Oracle has set its acquisitive eye on SAP.

That would be S(-full stop-)A-(full-stop-)P(-full stop), the ERP giant. Or, as Oracle chairman Larry Ellison has taken to calling it: "Sap." As in rhymes with "tap." In the words of the CBRonline staff writer: "The oddly specific rumor had it that Oracle was preparing to offer 38.5 euros ($49.78) per SAP share. The speculation sent SAP shares up by 1.7% by midday, to 36.23 euros." A PR person displayed the headline on her Blackberry last night causing me to nearly cough up a lung. How could an SAP-Oracle combo, a merging of the number one and two enterprise software players in the universe, pass regulatory muster? The short answer: It couldn't. Here's the play-by-play: Knee jerk reaction: "B.S." Second reaction: "Hmmmm, This is Larry Ellison we're talking about." Many immediately discounted his PeopleSoft bid as a PR stunt or a corporate dirty trick. Well guess what? It took. Even though I always thought PeopleSoft "Oracle was a do-able deal, the Siebel Systems buy seemed implausable. Wrong again. Siebel is part-and-parcel of Oracle. Will SAP join the stable? It strains credulity. But strange things come out of Redwood Shores.