Oracle Again Loses Database Market Share

Oracle Corp., the world’s No. 3 software maker, lost market share in database programs for the third straight year, researcher Gartner Inc. said.

The company’s piece of the $7.1-billion market fell to 32.6% in 2003 from 33.4% in 2002, Gartner analyst Colleen Graham said. IBM Corp. was the biggest seller of the programs for the second straight year.

Oracle disputes how the research firm defines the market. According to Gartner, IBM had $2.52 billion in database sales in 2003 and won 35.7% of the market in both 2002 and 2003.

Separately, Oracle’s takeover bid was spurned for the fourth time by rival PeopleSoft Inc., whose board voted to reject the reduced offer of $7.7 billion. The Justice Department is preparing for a June 7 trial seeking to block the proposed deal for antitrust reasons.

Shares of Oracle fell 2 cents to $11.48 and PeopleSoft’s fell 1 cent to $18.01, both on Nasdaq. IBM fell 35 cents to $88.35 on the New York Stock Exchange.