The Justice Department will call executives from Microsoft Corp. and a dozen other major corporations to testify against Oracle Corp.'s hostile bid to buy rival software company PeopleSoft, according to court documents.
With a trial only weeks away, the department submitted a witness list in federal court late on Tuesday that includes Microsoft executive Douglas Burgum, as well as representatives of big corporate customers, such as BearingPoint, DaimlerChrysler, and Kerr-McGee. (MSNBC is a Microsoft - NBC joint venture.)
The department filed suit earlier this year to block the deal after concluding that it would hobble competition in the market for software sold to large business customers to manage finances, human resources, sales forces and other functions
Oracle has dismissed competition concerns as unwarranted, accusing the department of "gerrymandering" the market to make it look as if it includes only three companies -- Oracle, PeopleSoft and Germany's SAP. Oracle contends that many smaller companies also can compete for large customers.
Burgum, the Microsoft executive called to testify by the government, is a senior vice president in Microsoft's productivity and business services group.
The views of Microsoft could be particularly important because the company has been cited by Oracle as a potential competitor in the market.
Sources have said Microsoft has given the department a sworn statement saying it has no plans during the next two years to move into the market at issue.
The customers on the witness list will tell U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker their views about the state of competition and the "likely impact" of an Oracle-PeopleSoft combination, the department said in the documents.
Oracle gave the judge a witness list that included another Microsoft executive named Cindy Bates, as well as executives from IBM, Siebel Systems, Novell and Automatic Data Processing Inc.
Bates is a general manager for sales to small- and mid-market business customers at Microsoft.
PeopleSoft has repeatedly spurned Oracle's offers and accused the company of trying to damage its business.
Oracle had originally offered $26 per share, or $9.4 billion for PeopleSoft. But last week the company lowered the price to $21 per share, citing changed market conditions.
PeopleSoft's shares have lost about 20 percent in the last three months.
