Oracle Will Be An Active But Targeted Acquirer

While Oracle has been a highly visible and active purchaser of other software companies since 2003, its big acquisitions (with the exception of its purchase of BEA Systems) are largely in the past. Oracle has already accomplished its primary goal of building market share and kick-starting revenue growth, and it has made substantial progress toward its second goal of acquiring core applications in vertical industries. Moreover, Oracle now faces the formidable task of rationalizing its many acquired products on a common code base. Oracle will continue to make selective smaller acquisitions of vertically focused apps, but it is not likely to make major acquisitions of vendors with revenues of more than $0.5 billion in the next two to three years.