Kagermann endorsing Ellison !

For some like Larry Ellison of Oracle, acquisitions are a disease; or call it ethos, if you spot a pattern. How did Ellison resist his urge to go shopping for such a long while? Before we could hear a contented belch emitting from him after gobbling up Seibel systems and PeopleSoft, here he goes again, out to get BEA Systems - maker of "middleware," software that integrates Net applications with databases. Ellison is making an offer @ $17 a share in cash, valuing BEA at $6.7 billion.

Founded in 1995, BEA is considered a valuable asset largely because it has about 15,000 customers that generate more than $600 million in annual revenue for software maintenance and upgrades. Activist investor Carl Icahn owns a 13.2% stake in BEA and is angling for more bidders – Oracle rivals SAP, HP and IBM not ruled out.

SAP initially derided Oracle's acquisition strategy as misguided, but earlier this week signaled it is ready to go on the prowl too by agreeing to pay $7 billion for Business Objects SA, a maker of software that helps companies analyze their internal data. That deal countered Oracle's $3.3 billion purchase of Hyperion Solutions earlier this year.

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I would say that’s how Kagermann endorses the Ellison brand.

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