Oracle, not just PeopleSoft, employees on chopping block

Victorious in its takeover of PeopleSoft, Oracle is set to debut its newly combined company on January 18 with a live Web cast. This will come four days after it may lay off as many as 6,000 workers, according to the company's initial estimates, and not all from the PeopleSoft side.

Several high-level Oracle executives have already been replaced in recent weeks (exactly when they occured is still unclear), including Ron Wohl, former executive vice president of applications development, and Michael Rocha, former executive vice president for global support services. Others are choosing not to stick around for the reorg. Jennifer Glass, vice president of communications at Oracle for nearly seven years jumped ship for the same role at Sony USA, as Tom Foremski reports on SiliconValley MediaWatch. So who will take the helm for the overall applications business? According to AMR Research, it should be a no-brainer. It'll be John Wookey, senior vice president for applications development:

If he is named to this new role, Oracle has picked the best person for this position. He's a 10-year Oracle veteran with extensive experience in developing Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and financial applications.