NATION

NATION
Software maker rejectshostile takeover bid
SAN FRANCISCO -- Business software maker PeopleSoft Inc. rejected rival Oracle Corp.'s $5.1 billion hostile takeover bid Thursday, but the snub didn't repel its unwelcome suitor.
After announcing quarterly results that exceeded analyst expectations, Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison vowed to continue to stalk PeopleSoft, holding firm at the current $16-per-share offer.
Ellison told analysts in a conference call Thursday that he believes investors eventually will favor Oracle's all-cash bid instead of sticking with PeopleSoft's plan to buy another software maker, J.D. Edwards & amp; Co., for $1.8 billion in stock. Denver-based J.D. Edwards waded into the fray Thursday by filing a Colorado state lawsuit against Oracle seeking $1.7 billion, plus unspecified punitive damages, for trying to interfere with its PeopleSoft deal. Oracle, based in Redwood Shores, Calif., said the suit is meritless.
Insurer will cut jobsand close call center
KETTERING, Ohio -- UnitedHealthcare, one of the nation's largest health insurers, is cutting 193 jobs and closing its call center in this southwest Ohio city.
The insurer will retain 113 employees from the call center who will work from home. The other jobs will be consolidated into call centers in St. Louis and Duluth, Minn., the insurer said Thursday.
"This is part of an ongoing plan that we've been operating on to consolidate to fewer but larger call centers," said Daryl Richard, spokesman for Uniprise, a UnitedHealthcare sister company that operated the center in this Dayton suburb.
Associated Press