Oracle's third quarter has proved even a rapacious acquisition strategy can't render you immune to a slow down in customer spending.

Sales of Oracle's software scraped in at the low end of its expectations stated in December: 16 per cent, compared to the anticipated range of between 15 and 25 per cent for the three months to February 29.

Chief executive Larry Ellison still made enough to keep his racing yacht afloat, though, and to also ensure Oracle remains the envy of open source and software as a service companies trying to woo Oracle customers.

Licensing for new products hit $1.6bn compared to $1.3bn last year. New database and middleware licenses were up 20 per cent and applications seven per cent. Overall, Oracle hauled in $1.3bn in net income, an increase of 30 per cent, on total revenue that grew 21 per cent to $5.3bn. Earnings per diluted share increased six cents to $0.26.

Oracle's president and chief financial officer Safra Catz reportedly pinned the current quarter's revenue growth at between 10 and 20 per cent over the previous year.®

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