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Larry Ellison's new job

September 19, 2014

Larry Ellison has stepped back from the CEO role at US software giant Oracle, but he isn't retiring. He retains two senior roles at the company he co-founded 37 years ago.

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USA Wirtschaft Oracle Chef Larry Ellison
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Risberg
Seventy-year-old Larry Ellison announced Friday that he would turn over the day-to-day management of California-based enterprise software maker Oracle to Mark Hurd and Safra Catz, who would be co-CEOs.

"Safra and Mark will now report to the Oracle board rather than to me. The three of us have been working well together for the last several years, and we plan to continue working together for the foreseeable future," Ellison said in a statement.

Ellison is not retiring, however, he has taken on the titles of chief technology officer (CTO) and executive chairman. The company took pains to underline that Ellison will continue to work full-time for Oracle.

"Larry has made it very clear that he wants to keep working full time and focus his energy on product engineering, technology development and strategy," said the Oracle board's presiding director Michael Boskin.

Catz has been an executive at Oracle since 1999, and until yesterday's promotion to co-CEO, she was co-president and chief financial officer (CFO).

Mark Hurd was the other co-president. Ellison hired Hurd, a personal friend of the Oracle founder, in 2010 after Hurd resigned from his jobs as chairman, CEO and president of Hewlett-Packard, under pressure from HP's board for reasons unrelated to his business performance.

Oracle reported its quarterly results Thursday (18.9.2014). It posted a profit of $2.2 billion, or 48 cents a share. Revenues rose three percent to $8.6 billion for the quarter. The company announced the repurchase of up to $13 billion of common stock.

A man of large appetites

Ellison is the third-wealthiest American, and the fifth-wealthiest person in the world, with a fortune worth around $52 billion. He has been among the world's most highly paid CEOs.

In 1977, he co-founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL), the company that would become Oracle, with two partners and an investment of $2,000, of which Ellison contributed $1,200. The company nearly went bankrupt in 1990, but it recovered.

Oracle is presently the second-largest software maker in the world, after Microsoft, measured by annual revenues - Germany's SAP is third. Oracle's 2013 revenues were $37.1 billion.

Ellison served as CEO for the entirety of the company's evolution, until stepping back from that role on Thursday (18.9.2014).

nz/uhe (DPA, AP, Oracle press release)