Oracle, PeopleSoft Begin Work on Joint Version of Software

Oracle Corp., less than a week after announcing that it took control of software rival PeopleSoft Inc., said Tuesday that the companies have begun work on a joint version of their business-management software.

PeopleSoft and Oracle are “now operating as one,” Oracle Presidents Charles Phillips and Safra Catz wrote in a letter to customers posted on the website of the Redwood City, Calif.-based company. Oracle said last week that it took control of PeopleSoft after an 18-month, $10.3-billion takeover battle.

Oracle will support PeopleSoft products until 2013, and executives are developing a product that combines features of each company’s programs, Phillips and Catz wrote.

Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison said in December that he would deliver the combined product within three years. Before the deal was announced, some PeopleSoft customers fretted that their products would get short shrift under Oracle’s ownership.

Oracle plans a Jan. 18 webcast “officially launching” the combined company.

Oracle said last week that shareholders had tendered about 75% of PeopleSoft’s outstanding stock. The deal makes Oracle the world’s No. 2 maker of business-management software, which is used to handle tasks such as payroll and human resources, behind Germany’s SAP. It also creates a company with more than 22,750 customers and more than 53,800 employees.

Shares of Oracle fell 35 cents to $13.06 on Nasdaq.