What are the chances that Chuck Phillips, the president of Oracle, the ex-Morgan Stanley guy involved in the company's many acquisitions, doesn't know whether Oracle will "probably double what we've spent on acquisitions in the last five years," which is what he reportedly told a Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference last week, adding "if things hold up, we could easily do that."

Well, Oracle "clarified" Mr. Chuck's statements the next day saying that it "does not have a five-year acquisition. We don't even have a one-year acquisition budget. While it is highly unlikely that we will spend anything approaching $70 billion in five years, we will be opportunistic and, if market conditions warrant, we will buy additional companies that further our strategic goals and address our customers' needs."

Phillips, who might have just been pumping Oracle's stock, said the company could buy more hardware companies. It could get into content. It could do more software verticals. "There's plenty left to do," he's quoted as saying.