Oracle CEO attacks poison pills, but has his own

From: Frog <FrogRemailer_at_bigfoot.com>
Date: 9 Jul 2003 00:35:21 +0200
Message-ID: <AX98CQDG37811.0225810185@Gilgamesh-frog.org>

What a freekin' prick this Larry guy is!!!

Oracle CEO attacks poison pills, but has his own AFX News Limited
Tuesday, July 08, 2003 (Originally Published: 7/7/03)

SAN FRANCISCO, Jul 07, 2003 -- Oracle CEO Larry Ellison wants to abolish all corporate "poison pill" plans, beginning with the one at PeopleSoft that might block his $6.3 billion hostile takeover bid.

But he may have to start closer to home.

Ellison told Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper on Sunday that he wants to abolish PeopleSoft's corporate "poison pill" -- or shareholder rights -- provision, and all poison pills, arguing that they entrench management at the expense of shareholders. But according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle has had a poison pill in place protecting Ellison and other company executives from a potential takeover since 1990.

"How can a manager, who has the duty of running a company, behave as
if he owned it?" Ellison said in the newspaper interview. "Poison pills should be outlawed everywhere -- it should be the majority of shareholders, the real owners of the company, to make the decisions."

Oracle spokeswoman Jennifer Glass did not have an immediate comment on Ellison's position.

In December 1990, Oracle adopted a poison-pill provision -- also called a "shareholder rights plan" -- designed to dilute shares of the company's common stock in case of a hostile takeover attempt in an effort to keep management at the helm.

Oracle's plan was amended and restated in March 1998, and amended in March 1999, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to Oracle's most recent Form 10K SEC filing, dated June 24, 2003, the plan is still in place.

"The shareholder rights plan was adopted to provide protection to
stockholders in the event of an unsolicited attempt to acquire us," according to an Oracle filing with the SEC.

This story was supplied by CBSMarketWatch. For further information see www.cbsmarketwatch.com.