Saying nothing too late has its costs
by Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 11/1/2004 7:00:00 AM
Craig Conway might still be CEO of PeopleSoft if the policy regarding questions about Oracle's hostile takeover attempt that was in place at the PeopleSoft user conference this past September had been adopted sooner.
The PeopleSoft board dismissed Conway roughly a week after the user conference, partly because he apparently made false public statements to financial analysts last year about the real impact of the Oracle situation on PeopleSoft's business. Conway recently testified during a trial related to the takeover attempt that he didn't lie, but instead made an error in his use of words.
During a media and analysts Q&A session on the PeopleSoft alliance with IBM, Conway sat stone-faced, not even mustering a "no comment" when someone asked if PeopleSoft would consider merging with IBM to avoid being acquired by Oracle. Finally, the session's moderator broke the silence by saying, "Next question." At that point, however, it seems Conway's firing was imminent.
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