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PeopleSoft is a software company that provides enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management software solutions to corporations. The company was founded in 1987 by Dave Duffield and Ken Morris. Its roots lie from the idea Dave had about a "Client-Server" (then a new concept) version of Integral's popular mainframe HRMS package. Once Integral declined development and released Dave to pursue this endeavour on his own, PeopleSoft was born. Its stock trades on the NASDAQ.
The software is modularized into specific components, such as payroll, human resources, inventory, various accounting packages, student enrollment, etc. It is well known for its ability to be easily "customized," or tailor-made, to fit the specific business needs of each client, while still being generic enough to meet corporate and governmental tracking requirements. Its detractors decry the frequent bugs found in the system, which require patches and fixes. PeopleSoft - like most large software companies - has spawned an industry-within-an-industry of PeopleSoft consulting, the implementation and maintenance of the product.
In 2003, PeopleSoft performed a friendly merger with smaller rival JDEdwards software. The rival with a similar product line provided strange synergies for the combined company. JDEdwards products catered to small to mid-sized companies and only ran on IBM AS/400 hardware. In addition, PeopleSoft was now committed to supporting an old-style "green screen" application -- the same application which drove Dave Duffield to branch out and create PeopleSoft in the first place.
Beginning in 2003, PeopleSoft battled with Oracle over control of the PeopleSoft company. In June 2003, Oracle made a $7 billion bid ($19.50/share) to take over PeopleSoft, in what many describe as a hostile corporate take-over attempt. In February 2004, Oracle increased their bid to approximately $9.4 billion ($26/share), a 33% increase. This offer was also rejected forthwith by PeopleSoft's board of directors.