[UPDATE: The merger talks apparently no longer active, according to WSJ (sub req).]
The Daily Deal has the news today. Unfortunately, it is subscription only, so here’s another story that cites the original. We do have access to the Deal, so we’ve taken the liberty to quote a few of the lead paragraphs:
M&A Oracle Corp. is in talks to buy Siebel Systems Inc., a source close to the company and analysts said Thursday.
Although they could not set a price tag on the deal, analysts have said Siebel could fetch up to $5 billion, although others believe it could be significantly less. They emphasized, however, that discussions are preliminary and could still break down.
A Siebel investor said the companies started discussions within the last week. Analyst Bert Hochfeld of Hochfeld Independent Research Group confirmed the talks.
“There have been substantive, high-level discussions” between the companies, he said.
Oracle and Siebel declined to comment.
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