Oracle snags more retail space with ProfitLogic buy

By Jack Loftus, News Writer 06 Jul 2005 | SearchOracle.com

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Oracle has announced that it will buy privately held ProfitLogic, a maker of retail forecasting software, for an undisclosed sum.

Oracle is deadly serious about the enterprise retail software market. AMR Research analyst report

The purchase of ProfitLogic is the latest notch in Oracle's retail software belt, which includes the much-reported takeover of software maker Retek Inc. earlier this year.

While it was not as hyped within the media as Oracle's acquisition of PeopleSoft Inc., the Retek purchase sent a signal to analysts that Oracle was serious about branching out into the retail space.

By purchasing Retek and at the same time defeating rival SAP in a bidding war for the company, Oracle also secured several of Retek's highly visible clients, including the Gap, Best Buy and Nordstrom.

Cambridge, Mass.-based ProfitLogic makes software that enables retailers to make more accurate sales forecasts and pricing decisions by analyzing customer demand patterns. Customers include upscale department store Bloomingdale's and the Toys R Us retail chain.

Oracle said in a statement that it expected to close the deal by the end of July.

A report issued by AMR research on Tuesday stated that ProfitLogic brings a new level of industry and technology ability to Oracle as the company continues to fight for leadership in the retail enterprise application suite market.

"Oracle is deadly serious about the enterprise retail software market," AMR analysts Alexi Sarnevitz, Scott Langdoc and Sriram Thodla wrote in the report.

The planned ProfitLogic merger also follows two other Oracle takeovers this year in addition to its $11.1 billion acquisition of rival PeopleSoft and a $700 million deal for Retek.

More on Oracle's recent acquisitions: Oracle integrates Oblix spoils Oracle beefs up database offering with TimesTen

The first, Oblix, was a developer of identity-based security products. Oblix's identity management tools have allowed customers to use a single password to log on to applications in the Oracle eBusiness Suite and software from PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards.

The second was database technology vendor TimesTen Inc., which markets in-memory database technology used to power billing, stock trading, call center and other time-sensitive systems.

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