Oracle Battle Takes Its Toll: PeopleSoft Fires Conway

Surprises

from the and-his-dog? dept

Craig Conway has made a valiant effort to… well, to not be acquired basically. It appears he’s been spending a little too much time fighting Oracle, and not enough time talking with his board of directors. While PeopleSoft appears to be doing better than expected, the board says they’ve lost confidence in Conway and surprised plenty of people by firing him, and putting founder David Duffield back in charge. This is quite a shift. When Conway came in and replaced Duffield, there was all this talk about just how different the two were in terms of personality (Duffield: friendly, people-person; Conway: heavy sales focus and very competitive). Of course, now the question is what this means for the Oracle deal. Since Conway has staked his reputation on not being acquired, it seems pretty clear that the board wanted to be more open to a deal. It’s likely that Duffield will talk with Oracle, and look much more seriously at whether or not a deal is in the best interest of PeopleSoft’s shareholders. Advantage: Larry Ellison. At least Conway still has his dog.