Company is trying to adapt to technological upheaval of 'cloud computing'
By Michael Liedtke
AP Technology Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison is stepping aside as CEO after 37 years at the helm of the business software maker, ending a colorful reign marked by his flamboyant behavior and outlandish wealth amassed while building one of the world's best-known technology companies.
With the changing of the guard announced last week, Ellison will be handing over his job to his two top lieutenants, Safra Catz and Mark Hurd, who become co-CEOs.
Ellison, 70, intends to still play an influential role at Oracle Corp. He is taking over as Oracle's executive chairman, replacing Jeff Henley in the position, and will oversee the engineering departments as chief technology officer. What's more, Ellison remains Oracle's biggest shareholder with a 25 percent stake in the Redwood Shores, California, company that accounts for most of his $51 billion fortune.
Catz, Oracle's chief financial officer until Thursday, will be responsible for manufacturing, legal and finance, while Hurd will supervise sales and all services. Both of them will report to Oracle's board instead of Ellison. Oracle isn't hiring a CFO to replace Catz.
Given that Catz and Hurd are already handling many of the same duties as Oracle's co-presidents, the new pecking order may not seem like much of a change, especially among investors who worried about the company's sluggish growth in recent years.
Oracle's stock slipped 86 cents, or 2 percent, to $40.69 in Thursday's extended trading following the company's announcement. The downturn may have had more to do with Wall Street's disappointment with Oracle's fiscal first-quarter earnings, which were also announced late Thursday and missed analyst targets, than with the reshuffling of management duties.
The shake-up comes at a critical point in Oracle's history. It is trying to adapt to the technological upheaval that is causing more of its corporate customers to lease software applications stored in remote data centers instead of paying licensing fees to install programs on machines kept in their own offices. The shift to Internet-connected software has become known as "cloud computing."
Since he co-founded Oracle with $1,200 of his own money in 1977, Ellison has become as well known for his antics away from the office as his accomplishments as the company's CEO.
Through the years, Ellison has driven fancy cars, flown his own jet, raced yachts, wooed beautiful women and owned ornate homes in San Francisco, Malibu and an exclusive Silicon Valley neighborhood, where he spent $170 million on a 45-acre compound designed to remind him of Japan and the samurai warriors that he admires.
Published: Mon, Sep 22, 2014
