Oracle To Buy Siebel

It seems all big companies are on a shopping spree. Continuing the trend, Oracle has bought Siebel to become the number one CRM applications company in the world," as told by Larry Ellison, the Oracle chief executive. The deal comes after nine months of Oracle's PeopleSoft acquisition, one that took nearly two years to be completed amid a flurry of lawsuits and anti-trust investigations.

Oracle is offering $10.66 per Siebel share, 16.8% more than Siebel's closing share price on Friday. While Oracle shares rose 1.6 percent to 13.49 on the news while Siebel shot up 12.7 percent to 10.29.

After the acquisition of Siebel, Oracle has got a leg up with its rival SAP, the German Software Giant in the business management applications field. The purchase of Siebel is likely to help Oracle achieve its stated goal of 20% long-term annual earnings growth. Also, Oracle is now the second largest software group in the world after Microsoft.