Oracle Wrangles Cloud Customer Service Outfit RightNow

Oracle has agreed to acquire RightNow Technologies for roughly $1.5 billion, or $43 per share — which would see the IT giant pay a 20 percent premium over RightNow’s closing price on Friday. The Bozeman, Montana-based RightNow offers an online service for powering instant messaging, social networks, and other communication tools among call centers, sales staff, and consumer-facing websites.

While many analysts have said that the purchase fits into Oracle’s recent shift into online service, not every piece of the puzzle lines up as neatly as some would lead you to believe. "Oracle’s bare-knuckle approach to sales and how it treats customers is 180 degrees the opposite to RightNow’s ethos of client-centricity and flexibility," William Band, a vice president at research outfit Forrester Research, told Wired.com.

"[RightNow’s employees] act and feel like they’re from Montana. Oracle feels like they can run you over. Some RightNow customers that purposefully avoid going with giants like Microsoft or Oracle may be unhappy now."

By Caleb Garling

Full Story: http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2011/10/oracle-wrangles-rightnow/

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Oracle to buy RightNow for $1.5 billion

Oracle Corp., one of the world’s largest software companies, said Monday that it is buying RightNow Technologies Inc. for about $1.5 billion and plans to keep the company in Bozeman.

It remains unclear exactly how the approximately 500 local employees will be affected. Greg Gianforte, CEO and founder of RightNow, declined the Chronicle’s request for an interview Monday but sent an emailed statement late Monday evening.

Carly Flandro

Full Story: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/economy/article_14b6f692-fede-11e0-9ae9-001cc4c03286.html

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Oracle to buy RightNow for $1.5 billion

Larry Ellison paid $1.5 billion to secure a place in the cloud.

Ellison’s Oracle (ORCL) on Monday unveiled a deal to acquire RightNow Technologies, expanding its cloud computing arsenal, three weeks after rival Salesforce.com sought to minimize the tech giant’s efforts in the major corporate IT trend.

By Benjamin Pimentel

Full Story: http://www.mercurynews.com/business-headlines/ci_19181703

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Oracle buys RightNow Technologies for $1.5 billion

Oracle Corp., the world’s second-largest software maker, agreed to buy RightNow Technologies Inc. for $1.5 billion, gaining customer-service expertise to bolster a new Internet-based product.

RightNow investors will get $43 a share, Oracle said Monday. That’s 20 percent more than RightNow’s closing price on Friday.

Sarah Frier, Bloomberg News

Full Story: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/25/BU3Q1LLICU.DTL&type=business