You've got to hand it to Larry Ellison, he's a man that knows what other people want (and then grabs it for himself). His recent $500M+ bid for Retek wouldn't have shown up anywhere but the Minneapolis Star Tribune if it weren't for the recent PeopleSoft grab and snatch.
You've got to wonder what the Germans are thinking right now. It looks like they're being backed into a corner on this one. Retek had revenues of about $174M but what's more important for Oracle is the customers; BestBuy, Kohls, Halmark, Gap, Tesco in the UK. Many of these customers are large Oracle shops (BestBuy comes to mind with their rather large Oracle data warehouse). 
One funny note is Larry's comment: "We have the largest applications business in North America, and we intend to defend that position,". It should have read "We have the largest redundant applications business in North America money can buy, and we intend to defend that position,"
One thing I must say about this one is that Retek has some very good people. I wish them all the best. I wonder who's going to grab Lawson?...Siebel anyone?
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