Business Objects Names Rene Bonvanie Chief Marketing Officer; Oracle and VERITAS Veteran to Lead Marketing Organization Through Company's Next Phase of Growth.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ)(Euronext Paris ISIN code: FR0004026250-BOB), the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, announced today that Rene Bonvanie has been appointed chief marketing officer. In this position, Bonvanie will be responsible for all marketing activity at Business Objects, including corporate communications, field marketing, and product marketing, and will play an important role in developing and communicating the company's strategy and vision. Bonvanie will report directly to Bernard Liautaud, chairman and CEO of Business Objects.

Bonvanie brings over 22 years of marketing management experience in the enterprise software industry to Business Objects. Most recently, Bonvanie served as senior vice president of worldwide marketing at VERITAS Software Corporation, where he led the company's worldwide marketing and corporate communications. Prior to joining VERITAS in 2003, Bonvanie served as vice president of product marketing at Oracle Corporation. Bonvanie managed the launch of Oracle 9i, and had editorial responsibility for Oracle Magazine and Profit Magazine, and co-founded Oracle's developer program -- Oracle Technology Network -- which today has over 3 million members. Before working at Oracle's corporate headquarters, Bonvanie held positions in field sales and marketing at Oracle in Europe. Prior to Oracle, Bonvanie worked at Ingres for eight years where he held senior roles in sales and marketing.

"Rene Bonvanie is a proven marketing executive with years of experience leading some of the world's most successful software companies," said Bernard Liautaud, chairman and CEO at Business Objects. "As Business Objects continues to lead and define the business intelligence industry, Rene will play a key role in setting the agenda for the market. The upcoming launch of BusinessObjects XI will be the first step in this exciting new chapter for Business Objects, and we are pleased to have Rene on board as we begin the new year."

"This is a wonderful time to join Business Objects and manage its worldwide marketing organization," said Rene Bonvanie, chief marketing officer at Business Objects. "With over 29,000 customers and the industry's most complete and powerful product suite, we are in the unique position of being able to define what business intelligence means to organizations of all sizes, and partner with them as our software becomes an indispensable part of their day-to-day operations. I look forward to working with the accomplished management team at Business Objects as we extend our lead in the business intelligence market."

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading business intelligence (BI) software company. Business intelligence enables organizations to track, understand, and manage enterprise performance. The company's solutions leverage the information that is stored in an array of corporate databases, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

Popular uses of BI include enterprise reporting, management dashboards and scorecards, customer intelligence applications, financial reporting, and both customer and partner extranets. These solutions enable companies to gain visibility into their business, acquire and retain profitable customers, reduce costs, optimize the supply chain, increase productivity, and improve financial performance.

In December 2003, Business Objects completed the acquisition of Crystal Decisions, the leader in enterprise reporting. The combined product line includes software for reporting, query and analysis, performance management, analytic applications, and data integration. In addition, Business Objects offers consulting and education services to help customers effectively deploy their business intelligence projects.

Business Objects has more than 29,000 customers in over 80 countries. The company's stock is traded under the ticker symbols NASDAQ:BOBJ and Euronext Paris (ISIN:FR0004026250-BOB). It is included in the SBF 120 and IT CAC 50 French stock market indexes. Business Objects can be reached at 408-953-6000 and http://www.businessobjects.com.

Business Objects, the Business Objects logo, and BusinessObjects are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects S.A. or its affiliated companies in the United States and/or other countries.