NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Even after PeopleSoft Inc.'s board unanimously rejected its revamped hostile takeover bid Friday, Oracle Corp. hasn't given up. CEO Larry Ellison reassured the company that Oracle would support PeopleSoft's software for at least a decade after the merger is completed.

"PeopleSoft executives are traveling around telling customers that we will 'kill' PeopleSoft's products and force them to move to Oracle's applications," Ellison said in a statement. "These are lies and scare tactics."

"We will have more than 4,000 engineers supporting PeopleSoft customers all over the world, and they can stay on PeopleSoft applications or migrate to Oracle applications at their discretion," added Ellison." It's entirely their choice. We will not shut down PeopleSoft products."

But PeopleSoft's board believed the proposed deal "faces substantial regulatory delays and a significant likelihood that the transaction would be prohibited."

It also said that even the improved bid is not a fair value for the company and that it believes shareholders would be better off if PeopleSoft remains independent and goes ahead with its proposed $1.8 billion purchase of another software provider, J.D. Edwards & Co.

"PeopleSoft is committed to the J.D. Edwards acquisition," PeopleSoft CEO Craig Conway said in a statement. "We believe that the continued execution of our strategy will create significantly higher stockholder value."

PeopleSoft formally started its tender offer for J.D. Edwards shares Thursday. Oracle has filed a lawsuit to try to stop that acquisition and remove PeopleSoft's anti-takeover defenses.

Oracle increased its bid for PeopleSoft Wednesday to $19.50 a share cash, or $6.3 billion, from its initial $16-a-share bid. Its initial $5.1 billion offer came June 6, four days after PeopleSoft announced it agreed to buy J.D. Edwards, which would have made it larger than Oracle.

Rejection of the Oracle bid was widely expected. The Washington Post reported Thursday that the Justice Department told the companies that it, rather than the Federal Trade Commission, would review the proposed takeover's antitrust implications.

Several major PeopleSoft customers have expressed fears that a takeover by Oracle could disrupt their operations and cost them millions of dollars. More than one-fifth of PeopleSoft's 5,000 customers are government agencies or universities.

Oracle executives insist their deal could close early this summer and poses less risk to PeopleSoft shareholders than the proposed J.D. Edwards purchase. Oracle could not be reached immediately Friday for comment about PeopleSoft's latest statement.

Shares of PeopleSoft (PSFT: Research, Estimates) fell 19 cents to $17.42 Friday, while Oracle (ORCL: Research, Estimates) shares fell 41 cents to $12.93. Shares of J.D. Edwards (JDEC: Research, Estimates) lost 1 cent to $14.02.