The final word on Oracle/PeopleSoft

This merger battle ended with a whimper! While a Oracle victory is more than welcome, after 18 months it would have been worth watching what the Delaware court would have ruled in Oracle's fight against PeopleSoft's poison pill clause.

As noted in today's WSJ, there was a good chance that the court would rule against the takeover defense in this particular case, and that would have set a precedent! Coming from the most corporate-friendly state in the US, it would have been a nice blow to such shareholder-unfriendly measures.

In fact, it now seems like an impending loss of face in the courts may have pushed PeopleSoft's top brass to agree to a final/higher offer.