Larry Ellison, the college dropout who went on to establish a multi-billion dollar corporation and became the world's highest paid CEO, is stepping down from his post on Oracle, but will still continue to call the shots as executive chairman of the company's board.
The 70-year-old Ellison, who is one of the last remaining old-line CEOs in Silicon Valley after Microsoft founder Bill Gates resigned from the top post to become his company's chief software architect in 2000 and Apple founder Steve Jobs passed away in 2011, will also continue to oversee Oracle's software and engineering division as chief technology officer.
Taking Ellison's place will be the unlikely duo of Safra Catz, who will continue to oversee manufacturing, finance and regulatory matters, and Mark Hurd, Oracle's main marketing man in charge of sales, service and marketing. Instead of reporting to Ellison as both executives previously did, they will now be reporting to the board, which will be headed by Ellison.
"Safra and Mark will now report to the Oracle Board rather than to me," says Ellison in a company press release. "All the other reporting relationships will remain unchanged. 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."
In 2012, Ellison made $96.1 million as Oracle CEO, more than any other chief executive in the world. Forbes pegs his net worth at $51.3 billion, making him the world's fifth richest man. And with more than $40 billion or over a quarter of Oracle's shares owned by Ellison, it is pretty clear he still runs the show. Catz herself, who has been working with Ellison for 14 years and seen as his loyal policy enforcer, said "no change" will happen.
"There is no change," she said. "I don't mean no significant changes, but no changes whatsoever."
This raises the question of why Ellison had to step down from his post if he continues to assume command. The theory is Ellison, being a man of hobbies, is relinquishing the top post to give time to his various interests, which range from tennis and sailing to real estate. Last year, Ellison famously ditched an Oracle OpenWorld event to attend a yacht race.
But some analysts believe Ellison's stepping down has more to do with his acknowledgment that he has not been very involved with the business as expected. For instance, Oracle has been late to the game when it comes to cloud computing while all its rivals were scrambling to get ahead.
"Oracle has been missing more than they were making for some time," said research analyst Brent Thill of UBS. "Directionally, there may be some things Larry has to be involved in. But there's a perception he hasn't been as engaged."
