MILAN (Reuters) - Larry Ellison, the chief executive of Oracle Corp, does not know if he will raise the U.S. software giant's $6.2 billion offer for rival PeopleSoft Inc, he was quoted as saying on Sunday.
Oracle has already upped its offer to $19.50 per PeopleSoft share from an original $16, and some analysts say Ellison could add another price hike to the acrimonious takeover battle.
In an interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper, Ellison was asked if Oracle, the world's second largest software group, would do just that.
"I don't know," he was quoted as saying. "Obviously we would like to pay as little as possible. The problem is that PeopleSoft's CEO has said he won't sell at any price."
PeopleSoft has vociferously rejected Oracle's bid and added "poison pills" to the potion -- agreeing a $1.77 billion merger with smaller rival J.D. Edwards & Co. and creating new contracts that would require any PeopleSoft buyer to refund clients up to five times the value of their license agreement.
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