Oracle Corp, the world’s second-largest software maker, agreed to buy RightNow Technologies Inc for $1.5 billion, gaining customer-service expertise to bolster a new Internet-based product. RightNow investors will get $43 a share, Oracle said today. That’s 20 per cent more than Bozeman, Montana- based RightNow’s closing price on October 21.
The acquisition will add software that helps companies serve customers using call centres, internet and social networks. Oracle is making its biggest purchase since Sun Microsystems last year after introducing the Oracle Public Cloud, which delivers software online via cloud computing, to spur demand for its programs.