GOVERNMENT

Oracle, after an 18-month battle, bought PeopleSoft Inc. for $10.3 billion, boosting the winning offer by $2.50 to $26.50 a share. The sale has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and should close by early January, Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison said in a release today. Chief Executive Larry Ellison's purchase of PeopleSoft will lessen the company's reliance on databases and help boost sales of other programs. The merger will add 1 cent a share to earnings in the fourth quarter, the statement said. "This has been a long, emotional struggle,'' PeopleSoft Director George Battle said in a statement. Oracle's previous offer of $24 a share was rejected by PeopleSoft's directors. Since October, 61 percent of PeopleSoft shareholders had tendered their shares to Oracle. Oracle gets 80 percent of its sales from databases, and plans to diversify into human resources and accounting programs haven't gained much traction. PeopleSoft's more than 12,750 customers will help fuel growth. Oracle promised to update PeopleSoft's applications for 10 years, and Ellison wants create a "successor'' product to both companies' programs that will combine features from each. PeopleSoft had rejected all five of Oracle's bids, which reached a high of $26 a share over the past 18 months, saying the offers weren't high enough. Pleasanton, California-based PeopleSoft said it's worth more than $31 a share, based on calculations by the company's directors and distributed to investors last week.