Oracle Corp Chief Executive Larry Ellison said Sun Microsystems Inc is losing about $100 million a month as European regulators delay approving his company's $7 billion purchase of the struggling hardware maker.
"The longer this takes, the more money Sun is going to lose," Ellison said on Monday evening during a dinner at one of Silicon Valley's most prominent speaker's forums, the Churchill Club.
Sun's revenue has tumbled since April when Oracle agreed to buy the world's No. 4 computer server maker in April as rivals IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co have poached customers amid uncertainty about its future.
Oracle has pledged to boost investment on development of Sun's products, but the hardware company has cut spending prior to the deal's closing as sales have plunged. Last month it reported a quarterly loss of $147 million.
Ellison, the world's fourth-richest man according to Forbes, said he expects the deal will eventually be cleared by European regulators as it was in the United States, without any conditions.
The European Commission is conducting an in-depth probe into whether the competition would be stifled by the combination of Oracle's database, the world's top seller, and Sun's MySQL database, which is widely used to run popular websites.
Legal experts have said Oracle may need to make concessions, including the divestiture of the MySQL software business, and that it is unclear how long European approval would take.
European regulators have until January 19, the deadline set by the Commission, the competition watchdog of the 27-country European Union. That would put Oracle months behind its original plan for closing the deal by the end of August.
Agencies
Showing posts with label Larry Ellison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Larry Ellison. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
$1 salary for Oracle CEO Larry Ellison
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will receive a base salary of $1 for fiscal 2010, according to a regulatory document filed Friday.
That's a decrease of $999,999 from last year. But Ellison won't exactly be starving. He is the world's fourth wealthiest person, according to Forbes.
And according to Oracle's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ellison's base pay of $1 million in fiscal 2009 only accounted for 1.2 percent of his total compensation anyway. Ninety-seven percent was in the form of stock.
Still, Ellison's new $1 base pay puts him on the salary pedestal with the likes of Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
"The compensation committee recognizes that Mr. Ellison has a significant equity interest in Oracle, but believes he should still receive annual compensation because Mr. Ellison plays an active and vital role in our operations, strategy and growth. Nevertheless, during fiscal 2010, Mr. Ellison agreed to decrease his annual salary to $1," Oracle said in the filing.
Oracle's fiscal 2010 began June 1.
Ellison, who is 64, founded Oracle in 1977. According to the SEC filing, he owns 1.18 billion shares of Oracle, or 23.4 percent of the company's total stock.
Agencies
That's a decrease of $999,999 from last year. But Ellison won't exactly be starving. He is the world's fourth wealthiest person, according to Forbes.
And according to Oracle's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ellison's base pay of $1 million in fiscal 2009 only accounted for 1.2 percent of his total compensation anyway. Ninety-seven percent was in the form of stock.
Still, Ellison's new $1 base pay puts him on the salary pedestal with the likes of Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
"The compensation committee recognizes that Mr. Ellison has a significant equity interest in Oracle, but believes he should still receive annual compensation because Mr. Ellison plays an active and vital role in our operations, strategy and growth. Nevertheless, during fiscal 2010, Mr. Ellison agreed to decrease his annual salary to $1," Oracle said in the filing.
Oracle's fiscal 2010 began June 1.
Ellison, who is 64, founded Oracle in 1977. According to the SEC filing, he owns 1.18 billion shares of Oracle, or 23.4 percent of the company's total stock.
Agencies
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Will Larry Ellison foray into netbook market?
Oracle Corp Chief Executive Larry Ellison is considering getting into the business of selling low-cost laptop computers, one of the fastest-growing sectors of the technology business.
Ellison said on Tuesday that he is looking at entering the market for so-called netbook computers after his software company completes its planned $7 billion purchase of computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc.
Sun also controls the Java computer language, which Ellison told programmers at a Java users' conference could be employed to run netbooks.
"I don't see why some of those devices shouldn't come from Sun," said Ellison, who runs the world's third-largest software maker. "There will be computers that are fundamentally based on Java."
That would put Oracle in competition with companies like Google Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc and Acer Inc, which either make netbooks or develop software for them.
The netbook phenomenon took off in 2008 to the tune of 11.7 million units, led by companies such as Acer and Asustek Computer Inc that were quick into the market. Nearly every PC vendor offers them these days.
Analysts forecast 20 million to 30 million netbooks will be sold this year, making up an ever larger part of overall laptop sales and marking one of few tech sectors still experiencing robust revenue growth.
Ellison made the comments during his first public speech since Oracle announced plans to buy Sun.
Although netbooks are relatively new, Ellison deserves some credit for their rise.
More then a decade ago he introduced a lightweight alternative to the PC known as the Network Computer, which was built primarily to connect to the Internet. The machines, which competed with ones running on Microsoft Corp's Windows operating system, failed to take off after their launch in 1996.
Agencies
Ellison said on Tuesday that he is looking at entering the market for so-called netbook computers after his software company completes its planned $7 billion purchase of computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc.
Sun also controls the Java computer language, which Ellison told programmers at a Java users' conference could be employed to run netbooks.
"I don't see why some of those devices shouldn't come from Sun," said Ellison, who runs the world's third-largest software maker. "There will be computers that are fundamentally based on Java."
That would put Oracle in competition with companies like Google Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc and Acer Inc, which either make netbooks or develop software for them.
The netbook phenomenon took off in 2008 to the tune of 11.7 million units, led by companies such as Acer and Asustek Computer Inc that were quick into the market. Nearly every PC vendor offers them these days.
Analysts forecast 20 million to 30 million netbooks will be sold this year, making up an ever larger part of overall laptop sales and marking one of few tech sectors still experiencing robust revenue growth.
Ellison made the comments during his first public speech since Oracle announced plans to buy Sun.
Although netbooks are relatively new, Ellison deserves some credit for their rise.
More then a decade ago he introduced a lightweight alternative to the PC known as the Network Computer, which was built primarily to connect to the Internet. The machines, which competed with ones running on Microsoft Corp's Windows operating system, failed to take off after their launch in 1996.
Agencies
Friday, May 8, 2009
Oracle won't divest Sun's hardware business, assures Ellison
Oracle Corp Chief Executive Larry Ellison said he won't sell off Sun Microsystems Inc's hardware business, dispelling speculation that he only wanted the company for its software units.
Ellison shook up Silicon Valley last month by sealing a more than $7 billion deal to buy Sun, the world's No 4 maker of server computers and also the developer of Java and Solaris software. Oracle unexpectedly swooped in after Sun's talks with International Business Machines Corp broke apart.
"We are definitely not going to exit the hardware business," Ellison said in an email interview with Reuters. "If a company designs both hardware and software, it can build much better systems than if they only design the software. That's why Apple's iPhone is so much better than Microsoft phones."
His comments fly in the face of the belief of some analysts that Oracle, the world's largest database software maker, may divest Sun's server business and retain just its software assets, such as Java and Solaris.
Oracle's steadily rising profit margins have impressed Wall Street in recent years, and analysts say it is a risky move for it to buy Sun, which has lost $2 billion in the first three quarters of its current fiscal year.
Ellison declined to respond to a question on what he would do if efforts to turn around Sun's computer server business run into trouble. Sun's losses have piled up after losing market share to IBM as well as Hewlett-Packard Co.
His comments may reassure businesses that were hesitant to buy Sun hardware due to uncertainty over its future, said Charles King, an analyst with Pund-IT Research.
"There has been some speculation that Oracle is going to auction off Sun by bits and pieces to the highest bidder," King said. "You end up with customers, many of whom own millions or tens of millions of dollars of Sun hardware, looking for another vendor to deal with."
INVESTING IN SPARC CHIPS
Ellison said he plans to boost investment in Sun's SPARC microprocessors, which serve as the brains in its line of high-end Unix computers. The biggest buyers of these servers are large corporations and government agencies.
He believes that by jointly developing Oracle's existing arsenal of software with Sun's computers and SPARC chips, they can build machines designed for specific purposes that work better than ones pulled together from separate components.
Oracle has sought to do this in the past through partnerships with hardware makers, including HP.
"Once we own Sun, we'll be able to plan and synchronize new features from silicon to software, just like IBM and the other big system suppliers," Ellison said in the interview.
Oracle plans to work with Japan's Fujitsu Ltd, which helps Sun design its SPARC microprocessors, to add new features that will improve the performance of Oracle's database software when used on Sun's servers. That will make Sun hardware more competitive versus rival products from IBM than it is today, the CEO added.
The acquisition makes Oracle the world's fourth-largest maker of servers, and puts the software maker into the No. 2 slot in the high end of the server market, which was worth about $17 billion last year.
STORAGE
Ellison also said he intends to hold on to Sun's data storage business and its tape backup unit, which compete with EMC Corp and IBM.
"Sun was very successful for a very long time selling computer systems based on the SPARC chip and the Solaris operating system," he said. "Now, with the added power of integrated Oracle software, we think they can be again."
Sun rose to prominence in the 1990s but never fully recovered from the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s, when demand for its high-end servers cratered.
Laura DiDio, an analyst with ITIC, said Oracle may be able to help Sun recapture the cache it once claimed as one of the world's most-respected technology companies.
"Sun has three decades and billions of dollars in investment in superlative hardware. They have some brilliant engineers," she said. "But Sun's marketing has not matched its technology. Larry Ellison is brilliant at marketing."
Agencies
Ellison shook up Silicon Valley last month by sealing a more than $7 billion deal to buy Sun, the world's No 4 maker of server computers and also the developer of Java and Solaris software. Oracle unexpectedly swooped in after Sun's talks with International Business Machines Corp broke apart.
"We are definitely not going to exit the hardware business," Ellison said in an email interview with Reuters. "If a company designs both hardware and software, it can build much better systems than if they only design the software. That's why Apple's iPhone is so much better than Microsoft phones."
His comments fly in the face of the belief of some analysts that Oracle, the world's largest database software maker, may divest Sun's server business and retain just its software assets, such as Java and Solaris.
Oracle's steadily rising profit margins have impressed Wall Street in recent years, and analysts say it is a risky move for it to buy Sun, which has lost $2 billion in the first three quarters of its current fiscal year.
Ellison declined to respond to a question on what he would do if efforts to turn around Sun's computer server business run into trouble. Sun's losses have piled up after losing market share to IBM as well as Hewlett-Packard Co.
His comments may reassure businesses that were hesitant to buy Sun hardware due to uncertainty over its future, said Charles King, an analyst with Pund-IT Research.
"There has been some speculation that Oracle is going to auction off Sun by bits and pieces to the highest bidder," King said. "You end up with customers, many of whom own millions or tens of millions of dollars of Sun hardware, looking for another vendor to deal with."
INVESTING IN SPARC CHIPS
Ellison said he plans to boost investment in Sun's SPARC microprocessors, which serve as the brains in its line of high-end Unix computers. The biggest buyers of these servers are large corporations and government agencies.
He believes that by jointly developing Oracle's existing arsenal of software with Sun's computers and SPARC chips, they can build machines designed for specific purposes that work better than ones pulled together from separate components.
Oracle has sought to do this in the past through partnerships with hardware makers, including HP.
"Once we own Sun, we'll be able to plan and synchronize new features from silicon to software, just like IBM and the other big system suppliers," Ellison said in the interview.
Oracle plans to work with Japan's Fujitsu Ltd, which helps Sun design its SPARC microprocessors, to add new features that will improve the performance of Oracle's database software when used on Sun's servers. That will make Sun hardware more competitive versus rival products from IBM than it is today, the CEO added.
The acquisition makes Oracle the world's fourth-largest maker of servers, and puts the software maker into the No. 2 slot in the high end of the server market, which was worth about $17 billion last year.
STORAGE
Ellison also said he intends to hold on to Sun's data storage business and its tape backup unit, which compete with EMC Corp and IBM.
"Sun was very successful for a very long time selling computer systems based on the SPARC chip and the Solaris operating system," he said. "Now, with the added power of integrated Oracle software, we think they can be again."
Sun rose to prominence in the 1990s but never fully recovered from the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s, when demand for its high-end servers cratered.
Laura DiDio, an analyst with ITIC, said Oracle may be able to help Sun recapture the cache it once claimed as one of the world's most-respected technology companies.
"Sun has three decades and billions of dollars in investment in superlative hardware. They have some brilliant engineers," she said. "But Sun's marketing has not matched its technology. Larry Ellison is brilliant at marketing."
Agencies
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