- New Oracle (ORCL -0.3%) co-CEO Safra Catz: "We’re No. 1 in database, we’re No. 1 in middleware, but we’re No. 2 in applications ... At Oracle, silver medal is first loser."
- Catz's remarks come two weeks after SAP (presumably the company deemed #1 in apps) agreed to pay $8.3B to buy leading cloud travel/expense management software vendor Concur Technologies. Plenty of cloud software stocks rallied in response, as investors bet the deal would trigger fresh M&A activity in an industry that has already seen plenty.
- They also come two weeks after Oracle reported light software license growth amid slumping database sales and intense cloud competition.
- Oracle has already bought a long list of enterprise software firms in recent years. Major cloud-related purchases include marketing automation software vendors Eloqua and Responsys, customer support software firm RightNow, talent management software firm Taleo, and sales quote software provider BigMachines.
- More recently, Oracle paid $5.3B to buy point-of-sale hardware/software firm Micros. Thanks to its M&A binge and huge buybacks, Oracle had $32.6B in debt as of Aug. 31 to go with $51.6B in cash/investments.
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Yesterday: Oracle launches flurry of new products