The minnow just got bigger
So, what now, Mr. Ellison? The completed purchase of J.D. Edwards by PeopleSoft ups the complexity of the whole deal. Instead of just folding one product line and group of customers in, there are now two that need to be handled.
If I were Larry, I might back off right now and try again in a year or so. By that time, PeopleSoft will have incurred the problems of the merger and maybe even taken a stock price hit. Most mergers destroy value, so by waiting, you are just betting that PeopleSoft will do no better than most companies and get the whole thing at a reduced price.