Larry Ellison : “[If] I had one bullet, trust me, it wouldn’t be for the dog.”

The New York Times: "May I buy your beloved pet dog, just so I can take him around back and shoot him? That's how the chief executive of PeopleSoft, Craig Conway, described Oracle's hostile bid for his company, which Oracle intends to use to move PeopleSoft customers to its own software.

Oracle's takeover tale has entered its 16th month, making it a drama of many acts. Conway currently declares that he holds no personal animus against Larry Ellison, Oracle's chief executive. But in the past, the two rivals made remarks about each other that were not customary politesse. A "sociopath" is the piquant way Conway described Ellison last year. Returning the favor, Ellison appropriated the image of Conway's vulnerable pet: if Conway and the dog were standing next to each other, he said, and "I had one bullet, trust me, it wouldn't be for the dog."