Basically, by holding off they have driven the stock price up. A comparison of Oracle, Peoplesoft and the NASDAQ doesn't support your claim. I'll try to post it below from Yahoo over the last two years. (The takeover is about 17 months old at this point). I would claim that to this point the bid by Ellison and the response by PSFT mgmt. has had the effect of driving the PSFT price up. In other words the board (who decides this) is doing the right stuff to maximiize shareholder profit. If they turn it down PSFT will collapse, and I would then agree with your premise. But at this time I can not. The available facts don't support it.