My Way News - Oracle Assaults Red Hat With Pricing War: "Oracle Corp. (ORCL) Chief Executive Larry Ellison is shaking up the software industry again, only this time a takeover bid isn't involved - yet.
Ellison set his sights on Linux software leader Red Hat Inc. (RHAT) late Wednesday by promising Oracle will charge dramatically lower prices to fix the problems that crop up in Red Hat's products.
Redwood Shores-based Oracle expects to offer discounts of at least 50 percent - a threat that caused Red Hat's stock price to plunge by more than 16 percent amid investor worries about the much smaller company's ability to withstand the challenge.
The assault on Red Hat continues Ellison's aggressive efforts to build upon the market clout that Oracle already amassed as the world's second-largest software vendor behind Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
Oracle has spent about $20 billion snapping up other business software makers during the past two years, sometimes refusing to take no for an answer. In the biggest deal of the lot, Oracle launched a hostile bid for PeopleSoft Inc. that took 18 months to complete.
If Red Hat's stock continues to falter, the company could become increasingly vulnerable to a takeover. Oracle executives refused Wednesday to say if they might be interested in buying Red Hat.
'I don't think this will kill Red Hat,' Ellison said Wednesday in response to a question from a packed audience attending the biggest convention in Oracle's 29-year history. 'This is capitalism. We are competing.'"
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