Reports of discounting and price slashing to close deals at the company are rampant right now on Wall Street. Chatter about discounting at the company started cropping up in the second half of April, well before the company's crunch time during the quarter. George Roberts, Oracle's sales chief, said last week that it's not offering discounts to customers. That, of course, is the company line, straight from the mouth of CEO Larry Ellison . He contends that his company's software has one price that every customer pays, which is listed on its Web site.
Analysts scoff at the thought.
This whole thing of are they discounting or not is ridiculous. Of course they will. Companies don't start discounting until they have to. Still, it doesn't do anything to bolster the company's claims that it's not lowering prices to get product out the door. Aside from the economy, Oracle has been struggling with its push into software applications, the sophisticated business software that is all the rage in corporate America right now.