With SAP’s acquisition of SuccessFactors, Taleo used a late January 2012 edition of BusinessWeek to call attention to its continued focus on customers, rather than its own pending M&A (see ad above – click for a larger image as required).

And then in early February, Oracle announced its plans to acquire Taleo:

“Oracle (NSDQ:ORCL) plans to acquire Taleo, a developer of cloud-based human resource management applications, for $1.9 billion, Oracle said Thursday.

The move comes as SAP awaits permission from a U.S. government committee to complete its $3.4 billion acquisition of SuccessFactors, a competing supplier of cloud-based human capital management applications.

Oracle will pay $46 per share for Dublin, Calif.-based Taleo, putting the acquisition price at $1.9 billion, net of Taleo’s cash and debt. The companies said the deal is subject to approvals from Taleo shareholders and regulatory authorities and is expected to close by midyear.“

Bad timing. I guess the message is that the world needs yet another talent management partner who remains independent.