December 20, 2012, 3:59 PM — Oracle surprised many tech industry observers by announcing Thursday it would pay US$871 million for marketing automation software vendor Eloqua. The move seemed a bit unlikely given the amount of sales and marketing software Oracle already had. But a closer look at the deal reveals a number of probable motives for Oracle, as well as what effects the deal could have on the market. 

A strike at Salesforce.com: Although Oracle said Eloqua will remain open to third-party applications, how that actually shapes up remains to be seen.

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