Oracle Says PeopleSoft Takeover Less Likely

Oracle Corp. Chairman Jeff Henley said his software company might still succeed in its $9.4-billion hostile bid for PeopleSoft Inc., even though success was “not highly probable.”

“We’re not done with PeopleSoft,” Henley said at a J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. technology and telecommunications conference in San Francisco. Technology spending is “on the mend,” Henley said, which will help bolster sales, with or without PeopleSoft.

Oracle, based in Redwood City, Calif., is preparing for a June 7 trial to defend its bid against a Justice Department antitrust suit.