The upside of a hostile takeover

Oracle President Chuck Phillips told a ballroom full of software executives on Tuesday that an 18-month protracted takeover isn't the most ideal way to conduct a merger. Nonetheless, Oracle's contested buyout of PeopleSoft last year was great publicity for the software company and its charismatic chief, Larry Ellison, he said. It also made Oracle a greater force to reckon with among IT buyers.

"We're going to be able to profit from that for years to come," Phillips said in a keynote speech at Sand Hill Group's Software2005 conference in Santa Clara, Calif.

Oracle has made clear that it has no intention of stopping at PeopleSoft, and Phillips said it has no shortage of willing acquisition partners. The company's phones have apparently been ringing off the hook with software executives seeking to sell their companies to Oracle.

"We're becoming a buyer of choice I guess, if there is such a thing in this industry," he noted.

As usual, Phillips was mum about the next course in Oracle's buyout feast. But the company has dropped hints before.