The move by PeopleSoft, part of a 1.75 billion dollar friendly bid for JD Edwards, came a day after Oracle boosted its bid for PeopleSoft by 1.2 billion dollars to 6.3 billion dollars.

Analysts said Oracle and PeopleSoft were in a frantic battle for shares in the Silicon Valley dogfight that includes at least three lawsuits.

"The race is on," said Richard Williams, analyst with Summit Analytic Partners.

"PeopleSoft is hoping it can gather up enough JD Edwards shares quickly because behind the scenes, Oracle is working fast to convince the large shareholders that its 6.3 billion dollar offer for PeopleSoft at 19.50 dollars a share is the right price."

PeopleSoft revised and accelerated its offer for JD Edwards this week after the software giant Oracle Corp. launched a surprise, bitterly contested bid to take over PeopleSoft.

PeopleSoft has added a cash component to the terms of its deal with JD Edwards in hopes of avoiding a PeopleSoft shareholder vote and closing that merger more quickly.

PeopleSoft has accused Oracle of launching a sham offer to scupper the PeopleSoft takeover of JD Edwards.

Oracle announced this week it would sue PeopleSoft, accusing its board of failing to act in the shareholders' best interests and demanding it remove a "poison pill" threatening the acquisition.

Randy Weston, an analyst with AMR Research, said Oracle's chances of succeeding in the hostile bid have sharply improved with the sweetened deal.

Oracle's odds of success are "getting higher by the minute," he said.

"If Oracle does indeed have institutional investors on board, there isn't a lot short of court order that could stop this deal."

Weston said that for JD Edwards and its shareholders, "the attractiveness of a merger with PeopleSoft is disappearing quickly."

"While the cash helps, they still are getting 50 percent of the deal in stock -- stock that is likely to drop if the Oracle deal fails," Weston added.

"The Oracle bid has also weakened PeopleSoft, leaving JD Edwards with a parent company that will have to drain a good portion of its cash reserves to complete the deal."

Meanwhile, analysts said a large number of Silicon Valley jobs could be cut if Oracle's hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft succeeds, with as many as half of PeopleSoft's 8,180 employees on the line.

"This may be a good business play for Oracle, but it's not very good for the people involved," said Gib Dyer, analyst with Hakala Capital Management in San Francisco.

"If this deal goes through, you won't need both Oracle and PeopleSoft sales managers calling on the same customers any more."

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