Oracle Adds To E-Commerce Lineup With $1 Billion Acquisition of Art Technology Group

Oracle is acquiring Art Technology Group Inc. for approximately $1 billion in a move that will expand Oracle's portfolio of e-commerce applications, the companies said Tuesday.

Oracle said it expects to close the deal, under which it will pay $6 per share in cash for ATG, sometime in early 2011. The acquisition is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.

ATG's cross-channel e-commerce applications provide a range of merchandising, marketing, content personalization, automated recommendation and live-help capabilities. Oracle said the products would complement its CRM, ERP, retail and supply chain management applications.

"Bringing together the complementary technologies and products from Oracle and ATG will enable the delivery of next-generation, unified cross-channel commerce and CRM," said Thomas Kurian, executive vice president of Oracle development, in a statement.

"Driven by the convergence of online and traditional commerce and the need to increase revenue and improve customer loyalty, organizations across many industries are looking for a unified commerce and CRM platform to provide a seamless experience across all commerce channels," he said.

Cambridge, Mass.-based ATG has been experiencing healthy growth this year. Tuesday ATG reported sales of $50.3 million for its third quarter ended Sept. 30, up 16 percent from the same period one year earlier. For the first nine months of 2010 ATG reported sales of $144.2 million, up 11 percent from the first nine months of 2009.