Oracle on Friday took a complete U-turn on comments made by co-President Charles Phillips at a conference on Thursday, making it clear that it was “highly unlikely” that the company would spend about USD 70 billion in purchasing other companies during the course of next five years. However, "we will be opportunistic and, if market conditions warrant, we will buy additional companies that further our strategic goals and address our customers' needs," spokeswoman Karen Tillman said in a statement.
The statement comes in the backdrop of a Fortune.com report on Thursday pertaining to Phillips’ comments made at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colorado. A video clip was posted by Fortune.com shortly after Oracle released the statement indirectly asserting that Phillips indeed suggested such a scenario. "If you look forward for the next five years, we'll probably double what we've spent on acquisitions in the last five years," Phillips said.
The statement had prompted interviewer Adam Lashinsky to ask Phillips to repeat his prediction. Phillips did so, adding that Oracle had shelled out USD 35 billion on acquisitions during the past five years. "You're going to spend $70 billion -- I'm slow on this sort of thing -- in the next five years, in acquisitions?" a surprised-sounding Lashinsky said. "If things hold up, we could easily do that," Phillips said. Earlier in the clip, Phillips divulged the types of opportunities Oracle will pursue. "There's a lot of companies in the vertical market, that no one's ever heard of, that would be nice for us to have," he said. "We've haven't got much into hardware, we've only made one acquisition there [of Sun Microsystems]," Phillips added.
