U.S., Oracle Ask Judge to Schedule Antitrust Trial in June

Oracle Corp. and the Department of Justice are seeking a June 21 trial date to resolve an antitrust lawsuit blocking the business software maker’s $9.4-billion hostile bid for rival PeopleSoft Inc.

If U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker agrees to the requested date, the trial probably will last until late July, based on a timetable that the two adversaries jointly filed late Monday.

Oracle’s $26-per-share offer for PeopleSoft is scheduled to expire June 25, but the offer can be easily extended. Oracle already has done so eight times since it began its pursuit of PeopleSoft nine months ago.

Pleasanton, Calif.-based PeopleSoft has steadfastly repelled Oracle’s advances, and the federal government fortified the resistance last month by filing an antitrust suit to block the proposed deal.

Redwood City, Calif.-based Oracle has vowed to prove the government wrong so it can snap up PeopleSoft.

Although it’s the world’s second-largest software company, Oracle still lags far behind Walldorf, Germany-based SAP in the business applications field -- a gap that would be closed with the purchase of PeopleSoft, which generates about $2 billion in annual sales.

The federal government contends that a takeover of PeopleSoft would give too much power to Oracle and SAP and harm the companies, government agencies and universities dependent on complex business applications systems.

Oracle contends that the government is defining the market too narrowly by underestimating the influence of specialty software makers and discounting the chances that Microsoft Corp. will enter the market.

Oracle shares fell 5 cents to $12.31. PeopleSoft rose 12 cents to $19.91. Both trade on Nasdaq.