PeopleSoft Founder Duffield Resigns as CEO

PeopleSoft Inc. founder David A. Duffield, who returned as chief executive during the company’s losing battle to escape Oracle Corp.’s takeover, has quit the software maker weeks before the deal is expected to close, according to a regulatory filing.

Duffield resigned Dec. 21, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He had been chief executive since October, when the board unexpectedly fired then-CEO Craig Conway.

This month, PeopleSoft ended the 18-month saga by agreeing to Oracle’s sweetened terms. The $10.3-billion deal, which would create the world’s No. 2 business applications software maker after Germany’s SAP, is expected to close early next month. It was not immediately clear whether an interim CEO would be appointed.