1980 to 1989: The Rise of Personal Computers and Personal Software - The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering - page 199

PeopleSoft
The advent of computers and software led to a number of specialized niche ap-
plications. One of these niches is human resource management systems (HRMSs),
which encompass a variety of personnel records. PeopleSoft, as the name implies,
was a pioneer in HRMSs. It was founded in 1984 in Walnut Creek, California, by
Dave Duffield and Ken Morris.
At first, PeopleSoft concentrated on HR applications but evolved into an en-
terprise resource planning (ERP) company after a merger with competitor JD Ed-
wards in 2003.
PeopleSoft is somewhat unique in that it built a proprietary software develop-
ment methodology called PeopleTools and even a proprietary programming lan-
guage called PeopleCode.
As often happens in the software business, the success of PeopleSoft attracted
the attention of a larger competitor, in this case Oracle. Starting in 2003, Oracle
attempted a hostile takeover of PeopleSoft for about $13 million, but the bid was
rejected. The U.S. Department of Justice stepped in and claimed that if Oracle ac-
quired PeopleSoft, it might lead to a monopoly. However, this claim was rejected
by a U.S. federal judge.
After a series of negotiations, Oracle did acquire PeopleSoft in 2004 for about
$10.3 million. Soon after the acquisition, Oracle laid off about 6,000 personnel out
of the 11,000 who had worked at PeopleSoft.
Oracle decided that the JD Edwards name was more popular than the
PeopleSoft name, so several PeopleSoft products were rebranded as JD Edwards
products.
Note
The history of PeopleSoft shows that hostile takeovers are a com-
mon social phenomenon in the software business. Some of these
takeovers are because the technology is valuable and doing well.
Some hostile takeovers are done to eliminate competition and re-
move competing technologies from the market. Oracle has contin-
ued to enhance and maintain many PeopleSoft applications.
Although the PeopleSoft name is a brand within Oracle, the more recent
products are fusions of the technologies from PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Oracle