Plan for PeopleSoft Is Due by Mid-January

Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison said he would complete his plan for combining the software maker’s operations with PeopleSoft Inc. by Jan. 14.

Oracle this month reached a deal to buy PeopleSoft for $10.3 billion after an 18-month fight. The “overall plan” is to maintain separate groups for handling development and support of each company’s software, Ellison told PeopleSoft employees in a letter last week.

Ellison, 60, wants PeopleSoft’s 12,750 customers and more than $1 billion in maintenance sales to buttress Oracle’s applications business and reduce his company’s reliance on database software, which makes up about 80% of revenue.

The $26.50 a share deal is due to be completed next week, Ellison wrote.

“A critical requirement is to combine the organizations quickly since we can’t pause long in this highly competitive market,” Ellison wrote. “The combination only works if we satisfy customers with great products and world-class support.”

Employees of Pleasanton, Calif.-based PeopleSoft and Redwood City, Calif.-based Oracle will be told by Jan. 14 whether they have a job in the new company. Ellison said he planned to expand Oracle’s sales, development, support, consulting and training staff with some of PeopleSoft’s more than 11,000 employees.

General and administrative and marketing positions will be “rationalized” so that the combined company’s “expenses will be similar in amount in the future to what Oracle spends currently,” Ellison wrote. The company will select the “most qualified person from each organization,” he said.

Oracle shares rose 21 cents to $13.79. PeopleSoft remained unchanged at $26.41. Both trade on Nasdaq.