In a move anticipated by many since the SAP purchase of SuccessFactors, Oracle has purchased Taleo for $1.9 Billion or $46.00 per share. This is a move that many HR professionals and many of us in the background screening industry saw coming long time. This could allow for some interesting integration’s between background check providers, ATS, HRIS and other Oracle ERP type programs. Stay tuned for more consolidation in this space for the remainder of the year!
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) agreed to buy Taleo Corp. (TLEO) for about $1.9 billion, gaining Internet-based technology that helps companies manage their human resources.
Holders of Taleo will get $46 a share, Redwood City, California-based Oracle, the second-largest software company, said in a statement today. That’s 18 percent higher than Taleo’s closing share price yesterday.
Oracle has been using acquisitions to build up its so- called cloud business, meant to appeal to customers that are seeking to save money by letting them access computing power over the Internet. To help blunt the impact of a possible slowdown in software sales growth, Oracle Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison has snapped up more than 70 companies in a $40 billion buying spree to add programs that help large corporations manage human resources and operations.
Shares of Oracle were little changed at $28.75 at 8:13 a.m. New York time before the opening of the markets. Taleo’s shares were suspended pending the announcement.
The transaction would be the largest in the enterprise software industry since November, when Hewlett-Packard bought Autonomy Corp. for more than $10 billion in cash. Oracle is paying about 136 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, compared with the median of about 14 in 45 similar transactions over the past 5 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
