Oracle, eBay clinch Siebel, Skype deals

The directors of Oracle and Siebel have approved the deal, and Siebel’s chairman, Thomas M. Siebel, a former Oracle executive, has agreed to vote his shares in favour of the acquisition, Oracle said.

The so-called customer relations management applications, known as CRM, ‘‘streamline all customer interactions’’ so users can better understand, service and anticipate their own customers’ needs, Oracle said.

‘‘In a single step, Oracle becomes the number one CRM applications company in the world,’’ Ellison of Oracle said in a statement announcing the deal. He added: ‘‘Siebel’s 4,000 applications customers and 3.4 million CRM users strengthen our number one position in applications in North America and move us closer to the number one position in applications globally.’’

Siebel said in the statement: ‘‘Today is a great day for Siebel Systems’ customers, partners, shareholders, and employees. The combination of Siebel applications with the development capacity of Oracle to enhance our CRM product set assures our customers continuing success. This is a very beneficial business combination that will allow us to be even more effective in delivering high quality, leading-edge solutions into the hands of satisfied customers.’’

In an another deal online auction firm eBay has agreed to buy Skype Technologies, the Internet phone company based in Luxembourg, for about $2.6 billion in cash and stock.

The total value of the deal may increase based on ‘‘potential performance-based consideration,’’ eBay said. The online auction company said the acquisition will create ‘‘an unparalleled e-commerce and communications engine’’ for Internet users worldwide. Skype has 54 million members in 225 countries and territories, the company said, adding that it is acquiring about 150,000 users a day.

In North America, Skype has more users and serves more voice minutes than any other Internet voice communications provider, according to the companies’ announcement of the deal today. ‘‘Communications is at the heart of e-commerce and community,’’ said Meg Whitman, eBay’s president and chief executive. ‘‘By combining the two leading ecommerce franchises, eBay and PayPal, with the leader in Internet voice communications, we will create an extraordinarily powerful environment for business on the net.’’

The acquisition of Skype is eBay’s biggest purchase since it bought the Internet Auction Company of South Korea in 2004 for $4.3 billion. EBay has been aggressively acquiring companies, many of them overseas, as it reaches beyond its core online auction business. Skype was founded in 2002 by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who also founded Kazaa, the popular and controversial file-sharing service. The two men will remain in their current positions. Zennstrom will join eBay’s senior executive team and will report to Whitman. — NYT

Larry Ellison in agreement to settle insider trading suit

PHILADELPHIA: Oracle CEO Lawrence J. Ellison has reached a tentative agreement under which he would pay $100 mn to charity to resolve a lawsuit charging that he engaged in insider trading in 2001, a lawyer involved in the case said. The unusual settlement, which requires the approval of Oracle’s board and could still break down, would be one of the largest payments made to resolve a shareholder suit of this kind, known as a derivative lawsuit. Under the terms of the settlement, Ellison would designate the charity and the payments, to be made over five years, would be paid in the name of Oracle. The lawsuit charged that Ellison sold almost $900 million of shares ahead of news that Oracle would not meet its expected earnings target. According to the court docket, a hearing on the settlement is scheduled for September 26. The lawyers who brought the case for shareholders would receive about $22.5 mn, separate from the $100 mn payment. NYT