Ever since Larry Ellison’s Oracle took over David Duffield’s Peoplesoft in a hostile bid seven years ago, the battle between the two arch rivals is continuing. In the latest contest between the two, the 71-year old David Duffield who recently founded Pleasanton, California based Workday announced that it is filing for an initial public offering of the seven year old company. Workday will crowed the field of publicly traded companies offering enterprise-software. Germany’s SAP and Oracle are the two behemoths in the field of enterprise-software.
During the first six months of 2012, Workday earned $119.5 million in revenue which is double the amount of last year’s revenue. Oracle’s projected revenue is around $39 billion this year compared to Workdays projected revenue of $338 million. However, Oracle continues to downplay the success of Workday indicating Workday has outdated technology and stating that they are winning contracts against Workday. The reason for Oracle’s concern over Workday lies in the business modal. Oracle and SAP sells programs to companies that are installed in company computers costing more money for the company. The Workday and others use cloud computing and allow customers to tap into the system reducing customer cost for maintenance of equipment. This modal creates a new worry for Oracle.