Oracle's buying spree goes on, as does consolidation in the content management software industry. Oracle said Thursday that it is acquiring enterprise content management software vendor Stellent for $13.50 per share or approximately $440 million. Oracle expects to complete the deal either late this year or in early 2007.

Oracle says the acquisition of Stellent and its Universal Content Management software will complement and extend its existing content management application portfolio, which includes Oracle Content database for storing and managing unstructured content. Oracle also said it intends to outline its content management strategy in a news conference call on Nov. 13.

Oracle's acquisition is the latest in a series of mega-buyouts in the content management software arena. Just last month IBM completed its acquisition of FileNet for $1.6 billion, and IBM is now integrating FileNet's operations into its Information Management software business. Storage system vendor EMC acquired content management software developer Documentum in 2003 in a stock swap valued at $1.7 billion.