Two More States Join DOJ Against Oracle's Bid For PeopleSoftTwo More States Join DOJ Against Oracle's Bid For PeopleSoft

The list of states opposing Oracle Corp.'s hostile $9.4 billion bid to acquire PeopleSoft Inc. has grown by two in recent days with the addition of Ohio and Connecticut.

In joining the U. S. Department of Justice and eight other states, Ohio and Connecticut filed motions last week to enter litigation in a federal court in San Francisco. Oracle is appealing a decision by the DOJ's Antitrust Division, which has moved to block the proposed acquisition.

The central issue in the case revolves around market definition -- Oracle maintains the financial software market at issue concerns a wide sprawling market with multiple competitors while PeopleSoft says the market is narrower with only two firms competing with it, namely Oracle and SAP.

Like the other states joining with the DOJ in the litigation, Ohio contends the market is narrowly focused. “The state believes that PeopleSoft and Oracle, in addition to SAP are, by far, the leaders in the ERP market,” said Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro in a statement. “Thus, merging two of the three leaders would seriously undermine the competitive market.”

Oracle scored some points in the case last week when it was announced that American Management Systems had won a software contract with the DOJ. Some observers said the AMS software competes in the same space with the three ERP leaders.

The eight states already partnering with the DOJ in the case are Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, and Texas.