When it comes to NetSuite news, the month of December started off with a bang. On December 1, executives from NetSuite and its new parent company, Oracle, finally broke their months-long silence about the way forward for the new combined company.
NetSuite and Oracle: the way forward
The acquisition had been announced on July 28, which was followed by months of uncertainty as to whether or not the deal would move forward or fall apart, and even speculation that another company could step in to buy NetSuite. Ultimately, the deal was consummated in early November, although executives didn’t come forward to discuss exactly how things would work until the December 1 event, which followed the delisting of NetSuite stock.
At the event and webcast, held in Northern California on December 1, there was plenty of NetSuite news:
- Oracle CEO, Mark Hurd, announced that NetSuite would remain NetSuite, with the brand remaining intact under Oracle’s leadership, and with additional investment from Oracle itself.
- What changes can NetSuite professionals and observers expect to see? The brand will grow globally, arriving in countries where it hasn’t previously been active. Products will be developed quicker and there’s also been an executive shift in the company.
- Jim McGeever, formerly NetSuite’s president and COO, will serve as the head of NetSuite, the Global Business Unit of Oracle. Evan Goldberg, NetSuite’s co-founder, will continue with Oracle in an undisclosed role. And NetSuite’s CEO before the merger, Zach Nelson, will also remain with the company, as an “evangelist.”
NetSuite in New York
A week later, on December 7 in New York City, one of the more active regional NetSuite user groups held its latest event.
The New York NetSuite Users Group Happy Hour held on a Wednesday night at the Perfect Pint in Times Square, was co-sponsored by Anderson Frank. The event drew dozens of local NetSuite professionals who, over beers, chicken fingers, potstickers and other tasty appetizers, discussed a wide variety of NetSuite-related topics. From how the NetSuite/Oracle deal might change their work to whether or not they’re planning to attend SuiteWorld in Las Vegas in April.
Earnings day
On December 15, Oracle announced quarterly earnings for the first time since the NetSuite purchase was finalized. The company posted $2 billion in net income, down slightly from $2.197 million the same time the year before.
In the earnings announcement, Oracle’s Hurd said that the company, following the NetSuite acquisition, plans to become ‘the number one cloud applications service provider for companies with less than 1,000 employees’. On its earnings call, though, Oracle executives cautioned that the NetSuite deal had come through in the later part of the quarter.
NetSuite makes the World Series
And finally, TAG announced one more bit of NetSuite news on December 28:
Earlier in the year, they had performed a NetSuite ERP implementation for Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians, who went on to win the American League pennant and compete in the World Series against the Chicago Cubs. The Indians, known as one of baseball’s most technologically savvy and forward-thinking organizations, switched over from Microsoft Dynamics.
