Oracle co-president Charles Phillips has denied reports that the company plans to double its acquisition budget to a total of $70 billion over the next five years.
The story was printed by Fortune magazine, following its attendance at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2010 conference in Aspen, Colorado, where Phillips was a speaker last Thursday.
The magazine reported that Phillips had said the company intended to move into adjacent areas, which included a jokey reference to ‘content’. "It’s early in the game and there’s plenty left to do," he was quoted as saying.
Phillips denied that it had plans to purchase software-as-a-service rival Salesforce.com, which was started by former Oracle executive, Marc Benioff, however.
But by Friday morning, Oracle’s PR department had jumped on the story and, according to tech website the Register, Oracle spokesperson Karen Tillman said in a statement: "Oracle does not have a five-year acquisition budget. We don’t even have a one-year acquisition budget."
While it was "highly unlikely" that the firm would spend "anything approaching" $70 billion over the stated five year period, she added that: "We will be opportunistic and, if market conditions warrant, we will buy additional companies that further our strategic goals and address our customer needs."
