BEA Systems yesterday entered the final phase of capitulation to Oracle, throwing out a "but we're worth so much more than $17 per share!" counter to Oracle's offer.
Most acquiring companies would take mercy on the desperate gesture of BEA at this point, but Oracle might very well hold out.
Oracle is the sort of company to drag the companies it woos through a bit of hell and humiliation to make them good and desperate to be acquired at its price. This is very likely what will happen with BEA.
In other words, BEA's plea for more money will probably result in the opposite: an even lower offer a year from now, after BEA's public subjugation to Oracle is complete. Oracle is demanding an answer by this Sunday, but it can afford to wait much longer on the response it wants.
In the meantime, BEA will flounder, just as PeopleSoft did before it.
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