CEO of the Week: Oracle’s Larry Ellison

Oracle Corporation is a multinational computer technology company based in the United States that offers cloud-based enterprise solutions.

The company offers hardware systems, cloud infrastructure software, application software, and database and middleware software. Moreover, integrated cloud solutions are provided, such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). 

Oracle offers on-site software licensing, license updates, and associated support services. The business uses resellers, system integrators, and independent software and hardware vendors to market its solutions.

Hardware, servers, storage, networking, industry-specific products, and associated support and services are all included in on-premise offerings. 

The company operates in the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Americas. The US city of Austin, Texas, is home to Oracle’s headquarters.

The brain behind this successful venture is 78-year-old Lawrence Joseph Ellison, commonly known as Larry Ellison. 

Who is Larry Ellison?

1. Larry Ellison was born in New York City and was raised in a Reform Jewish home by his adoptive parents

2. In 1965, he enrolled himself at the university of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign as a premed student, but withdrew without taking final exams, as his  adoptive mother died

3. Later, in 1966, he enrolled himself to study physics and mathematics from University of Chicago, where he first encountered computer design

4. After the course, he moved to Berkeley, California and began his career as a computer programmer for different companies

5. Larry Ellison co-founded Oracle Corporation in 1977 with Bob Miner and Ed Oates under the name Software Development Laboratories, and served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company

6. In 1994, he received Information Technology Leadership Award for Global Integration from Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)

7. In 2014, he gave up the Oracle CEO role after 37 years

8. In 2020, Ellison moved permanently to the Hawaiian island Lanai, which he bought nearly all of in 2012 for USD 300 million dollars

9. Ellison was Tesla’s board member from December 2018 to August 2022. He still owns about 15 million shares in the electric carmaker

10. As of February 2023, he was listed by Bloomberg Billionaires Index as the sixth-wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated fortune of USD 102.6 Billion Dollars

11. The Wall Street Journal reported Ellison as the best-paid executive in the last decade