Connecticut"s attorney general announced Wednesday that he plans to file an antitrust lawsuit against Oracle, seeking to defeat the company"s proposed buyout of rival PeopleSoft.
State leaders said in a statement that Oracle"s proposed takeover would violate state and federal antitrust laws, "directly damage the state and its economy and raise prices for businesses, governments and consumers by significantly reducing competition in the markets PeopleSoft serves."
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Connecticut is taking the lead in fighting the merger, but that he expects others to join the effort.
"We are assembling a powerful coalition of states and other consumers that will suffer the same unacceptable costs if this unlawful, anticompetitive takeover is permitted," Blumenthal said in the statement. "The costs are huge and intolerable--in money, time, human capital and system reliability--now and going forward, for our consumers and economy. The takeover would cripple competition--threatening higher prices and lower quality--and cause terrible waste in the human and financial investments already made."
Blumenthal said in an interview that he would also seek the intervention of federal antitrust regulators. "We would welcome the federal government to get involved, and hope they will make a stand in favor of competition," he said.