Oracle announced that company co-founder Larry Ellison is stepping down as CEO and named as chief technology officer and executive chairman, while Safra Catz and Mark Hurd have been promoted form their co-president positions to co-CEOs.
Upon the release of the news, many analysts and experts claimed that the management changes pose as an "end of an era." However, the three Oracle leaders clarified, at the close of the stock market on Thursday in an earnings conference call, that their roles and responsibilities will not change.
"There will actually be no changes whatsoever," said Catz, when she was asked on how the changes in the management titles will cascade to the rest of Oracle's management structure.
Catz said that she will no longer be using the title of CFO, but nobody will be hired to take over the position as she will continue her duties as the principal financial officer of Oracle.
Hurd said that he will not appoint or promote executives under him, and that he will continue his role of overseeing Oracle's service, sales and vertical industry global business divisions.
"We're pretty flat in terms of the way we run this place, and we want to keep it that way," said Hurd. "I want to stay closer to the action, not get farther away."
The only difference stemming from the announcement of management changes will be that both Catz and Hurd will be reporting to Oracle's board, which is now chaired by Ellison after Jeff Henley, Oracle chairman for 10 years, has been named the vice chairman. Previously, Catz and Hurd were directly reporting only to Ellison.
Ellison added that he will have continued participation in earnings calls, which is a task that is usually reserved for CFOs or CEOs.
If there seems to be no change in leadership roles, then why did Oracle change the titles of their top three executives?
According to Ellison, it is because Catz and Hurd deserve recognition with their new management titles after their continued success in their respective roles. Ellison's new position as CTO is a new role for the company that was previously not present.
However, Frank Scavo, an industry insider and Computer Economics president, suggested that the announcement was only made to distract investors from the news that Oracle missed their target earnings for the quarter.
"That, to me, is a much bigger story than Larry's non-exit, but it seems to have been pushed to the bottom paragraph in most early news accounts," said Scavo.
Oracle reported a first quarter revenue of only $8.6 billion, which is $200 million short of its expected revenue of $8.8 billion. Earnings per share was at 62 cents, when the expected value was at 64 cents.
