business combination contingency adjustments after the purchase price allocation period has ended, and certain other expenses (income), net. Stock-based compensation expenses included in acquisition related and other expenses relate to unvested options assumed from acquisitions whereby vesting was accelerated upon termination of the employees pursuant to the original terms of those options.

 

Fiscal 2008 Compared to Fiscal 2007:   Acquisition related and other expenses decreased during fiscal 2008 due to lower in-process research and development acquired as a part of our fiscal 2008 acquisitions in comparison to our fiscal 2007 acquisitions and a $57 million gain on a property sale in December 2007 (see Note 1 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information). These decreases to acquisition related and other expenses were partially offset by higher transitional employee related expenses and increased stock-based compensation expenses due to the acceleration of certain acquired employee stock options pursuant to the terms of those options. Business combination contingency adjustments in fiscal 2007 included a $52 million benefit relating to the settlement of a lawsuit filed against PeopleSoft on behalf of the U.S. government. This lawsuit was filed in October 2003, prior to our acquisition of PeopleSoft, and represented a pre-acquisition contingency that we identified and assumed in connection with our acquisition of PeopleSoft. We settled this lawsuit in October 2006, which was subsequent to the purchase price allocation period, for approximately $98 million. Accordingly, we included the difference between the amount accrued as of the end of the purchase price allocation period and the settlement amount as a $52 million benefit to our consolidated statement of operations for fiscal 2007.

 

Fiscal 2007 Compared to Fiscal 2006:   Acquisition related charges increased primarily due to in-process research and development charges resulting from our acquisitions of Hyperion, i-flex and others in fiscal 2007. This increase was almost entirely offset by a $52 million benefit as described above.

 

Restructuring expenses:   Restructuring expenses consist of Oracle employee severance costs and Oracle duplicate facilities closures that were initiated to improve our cost structure as a result of acquisitions. For additional information regarding the Oracle restructuring plans, as well as restructuring activities of our acquired companies, please see Note 7 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. 



Fiscal 2008 Compared to Fiscal 2007:   During the second quarter of fiscal 2008, our management with the appropriate level of authority approved, committed to, and initiated the Oracle Fiscal 2008 Restructuring Plan (2008 Plan) as a result of certain management and operational changes that are intended to improve efficiencies in our Oracle-based operations. Our 2008 Plan was amended in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 to include the expected effects resulting from our acquisition of BEA. The total estimated costs associated with the 2008 Plan are approximately $111 million and are primarily related to employee severance.