Oracle makes $1.5B cloud acquisition

Oracle plans to pay $1.5 billion for RightNow Technologies Inc., a Bozeman, Mont., company that provides cloud-based customer service.

Federal government customers of RightNow include Customs and Border Protection, NASA, Social Security Administration and the Farm Service Agency.

The move by Oracle helps the company build its cloud offerings in areas such as sales force automation, human resources, talent management, social networking, databases and Java, said Thomas Kurian, executive vice president of Oracle Development.

“RightNow’s leading customer service cloud is a very important addition to Oracle’s Public Cloud,” he said.

RightNow CEO Greg Gianforte said the company will keep its presence in Bozeman.

The $43 per share deal is expected to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012. RightNow shareholders still need to vote to approve the deal.

Oracle Corp., of Redwood Shores, Calif., ranks No. 80 on Washington Technology’s 2011 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.