John Paczkowski

Recent Posts by John Paczkowski

Ellison to Self: Damn, Damn. I Knew I Should Have Said $4.5 Billion

Whatever damages Oracle is awarded in its suit against SAP, they’ll be $500 million lighter, thanks to an order by the judge presiding over the case. Judge Phyllis Hamilton has prevented Oracle from including in its damages estimates any potential lost profits from products it might have sold to customers it lost because of the SAP-TomorrowNow debacle.

So when Oracle’s damage expert, Paul Meyer, offered his estimate of what SAP should pay Oracle it ended up being $1.66 billion, which is obviously a substantial sum, but less than the one Oracle has been seeking and significantly less than the $4 billion figure Oracle CEO Larry Ellison was tossing around on Monday.

Good news for SAP–particularly after yesterday–and one that the company hopes is the beginning of a trend. “The ruling of the Court has an immediate and demonstrable impact on Oracle’s damages presentation, reducing the total by $500 million, from $2.2 billion down to $1.6 billion,” an SAP spokesperson told me. “This is the second such reduction by the Court and we are confident that, when the jury hears our case presentation, the outcome of the case will reflect the actual damages the limited actions of TommorowNow had upon Oracle.”

Oracle declined to comment on the matter.

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