back to article Oracle's Larry Ellison quits as CEO – new bosses are Hurd'n'Catz

Oracle has, in the past few minutes, announced that company founder Larry Ellison has stepped down as chief executive, effective immediately. Outspoken Ellison will remain with the company in the capacity of chief technology officer, and he will continue to oversee all software and hardware engineering functions, Oracle said …

  1. JDX Gold badge

    Glad I didn't decide to sell AAPL and buy Oracle shares!

    Maybe he's just bored and wants to spend his loot.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Maybe he's just bored and wants to spend his loot.

      Can't blame him, he's 70 years old!

      1. NeilMc

        Bits of him are 70 years old others......

        I always thought Larry had had a few "procedures" done over the years. so perhaps bits of him are 70 years others maybe a lot less.

    2. FrankAlphaXII

      To be honest, I didn't know he was 70. I don't know why but I expected him to be maybe in his late 50's. He's run the company for much longer than I would have. I just feel sorry for the Oracle sailing team, now he's free to go micromanage them if he so chooses.

      After working that hard for so long I'm sure he could use a break. He's about the only human being that could conceivably build a Ducktales-esq money bin to swim around in on his Hawaiian island. He could tweet what Biggie Smalls said: something like "@LarryMegabucks "Cash rules everything around me" #biggiesmalls #notoriousthugz #oracle #capitalism #IownanIsland #ducktales" and actually be able to follow it by posting a picture of himself and stacks of cash, stock certificates, bonds and other items of value that are all actually his own money to go along with it. Instead of how rappers do it with a bunch of prop money and maybe one stack of their own.

      I hope El Reg doesn't retire the article graphic of Larry in his sea of money here though. I always quite liked that one, especially on stories about Oracle's losses, just to keep things in perspective that the man alone is worth more than a number of sovereign states GDP and GNP.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: stacks of cash, stock certificates, bonds and other items

        "follow it by posting a picture of himself and stacks of cash, stock certificates, bonds and other items of value that are all actually his own money "

        Let's see Larry do a KLF (OK, K Foundation) and burn a serious chunk. For art's sake.

        Or donate it to charity. Maybe the Gates Foundation?

        1. localzuk Silver badge

          Re: stacks of cash, stock certificates, bonds and other items

          He could create a new charity of his own. I recommend "Yachts for Tots".

          1. NeilMc

            Re: stacks of cash, stock certificates, bonds and other items

            or "Islands in the sun for those that dont have one"

            That might massage his ego as he leaves the top spot at Oracle.....

            But wait a moment he is not leaving the top slot...............

            As CTO reporting to the new CEO's that are held accountable by the Exec Chair which is ehhhhh Larry he still has a stranglehold on the business.

            Very strange

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Somewhat confused...

    What confuses me is that nominally, the CTO reports to the CEO(s) who report to the board and by that virtue the chairman. So:

    Elison reports to the CEOs who report to... Elison

    Seems odd on so many fronts.

    1. FrankAlphaXII

      Re: Somewhat confused...

      And Oracle isn't an odd company, how exactly? I'd figure people used to watching them would expect them to do counterintuitive and downright strange things. I mean who else would have hired Mark Hurd after being CEO of HP? I wouldn't want that on my resume.

      Not to mention the sexual harassment issue.

      But really, what other Database company do you know of that would still design its own non-ARM processor architecture while making no profits from it, coming up on five years after purchasing its originator?

    2. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      Pirate

      Re: AC Re: Somewhat confused...

      "......Elison reports to the CEOs who report to... Elison....." Larry is too big an ego to have it any other way. The idea of two CEOs simply smacks of indecision - 'I want to keep you both, I just don't trust either of you to run the company alone.'

    3. ben_myers

      Re: Somewhat confused...

      Same reporting zig-zag line that Microsoft had when Gates stepped down or sideways.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Somewhat confused...

      See the thing with you database types, as distinct from the software engineer types, is that the database types often don't understand recursion. Ellison reporting to himself (even via an intermediary) is recursion. Like any other recursion, it'll have to stop sooner or later, one way or another. If not planned for up front, the results may be unexpected and quite possibly unpleasant. Recursion used inappropriately may consume more resources than other more appropriate tactics. Etc.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sympathies to Oracle

    Has a former HP employee, may I extend commiseration to anyone reporting to Hurd -especially in engineering projects working 12+ months out, as that's the limit of his Bonus Horizon

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sympathies to Oracle

      I echo AC's comments about working under Hurd. The sleaze-bag rises to the surface again and I've no doubt he will start sharpening his axe again for the short-term stock price hike and another obscene bonus.Look out especially if you are female and 10 years or more younger than him!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sympathies to Oracle

        The sleaze-bag rises to the surface again

        If I might, please do not denigrate all the other sleeze-bags in the world. This one is in a class by himself and others do not deserve being brought down to his level.

    2. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      Re: Sympathies to Oracle

      Engineering will still report to Larry.

      So, the death by a thousand Hurds of any R&D in Oracle is postponed for the duration.

      1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
        Facepalm

        Re: Voland Re: Sympathies to Oracle

        "Engineering will still report to Larry....." Larry is not an engineer. Being generous, you could call him a software tech sales at best.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Voland Sympathies to Oracle

          Larry is not an engineer

          While not an Engineer, he is not a Hurd (you can replace a letter in that for an exact definition). He has done quite a few acquisitons which were looking forward by way more than a year and has kept them going. Not something I can say about the *urd.

      2. Roo

        Re: Sympathies to Oracle

        "Engineering will still report to Larry.

        So, the death by a thousand Hurds of any R&D in Oracle is postponed for the duration."

        I don't think that would make any material difference to the customer, Oracle's R&D strategy over the past decade appears to consist of two plays "buy next big thing" and "gouge the customers".

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sympathies to Oracle

      They will be preparing the thousands of Pink Slips for immediate delivery if Hurd's past form is anything to go by.

  4. Chris Miller

    Best of luck trying to run Oracle with Larry breathing down your neck. Still, I expect the share options are good.

    1. P0l0nium

      I can just imagine the response to ...

      "Larry, we're about to start losing (your) money. You should STOP working on that and work on THIS!!"

      Stand well back - hold pink slip in left hand :-)

  5. Swarthy

    So Elison no longer IS Oracle. I never thought it'd happen.

    Side note: That headline is awesome, especially considering that Larry will be one of the cats that the two will be herding.

  6. Mage Silver badge

    Eh?

    I can't see how this is going to work.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Executive Chairman?

    The whole point of a Chairman is (meant to be) that they're not an executive - they're supposed to be independent of the management and represent the shareholders. Corporate governance? Nah, never heard of it,

  8. frank ly
    Coat

    Controlling Oracle is not easy

    It must be like Hurding Catz.

    (The one with the Book of Immediate Plagiarism in the pocket.)

  9. ben_myers

    Ugh!

    A two-headed CEO monster. It will be just like Hurding Catz. Look how well the co-CEOs worked out for the Market Basket supermarket chain! Well, it worked out well for the co-CEOs, who locked into contracts paying them megabucks no matter what.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Love article title, Herding Cats

    Taken from the EDS ad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE

    Which Mark Hurd bought and dipped in acid.

    1. Mayhem

      Re: Love article title, Herding Cats

      While I worked for EDS I loved those ads, especially the airplanes in the sky one - taking off with no idea of a destination, frantically putting things together at the last minute, and expecting the tech staff to wing it to a plan ... yep, that was EDS.

  11. luis river

    Great future

    The movement in the company has a deeper meaning that the appearances say, we will see a great movement headed by Mark Hurd, it can pass any thing.

  12. ForthIsNotDead
    Meh

    The beginning of a long and slow decline...

    * IBM... Long slow decline

    * Sun... Long slow decline

    * Microsoft... Beginning a long slow decline (IMO) - fighting hard to stave it off (to their credit) but a long slow decline nevertheless

    * EDS... Long slow decline

    Now, I think, we're beginning to see the same happen to Oracle. It'll take a long time I think, I mean, they're bringing in 8 BILLION a quarter. That's seriously impressive. However, ultimately, I think Open Source databases that are "good enough" are going to win out. Companies are beginning to seriously evaluate alternatives, being offended by lock-in style selling practices and punishingly expensive rates. I think they've had enough. There's a whiff of software revolution in the air.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The beginning of a long and slow decline...

      Who on earth is EDS?

      TCFKAE(DS) is a long subsumed business unit of HPEDigiSynPac - and that's only made up of the one's I can recall at the mo ...

      Cheers

      Jon

  13. ducatis'r us

    A new beginning for Larry...

    ...as a Tom Jones tribute act

  14. ecofeco Silver badge
    FAIL

    Oh my god

    Wow. Just... wow.

    Well, I guess if you liked Larry, you'll love Mark. And I'm not talking about their business skills.

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