Believed to be the 5th richest man in the world, co-founder and long-time CEO of Oracle, Larry Ellison, has decided to step down from his position which is effective immediately. Ellison’s position will be replaced by Mark Hurd and Safra Catz. What is unusual about the two new heads of Oracle is that both Hurd and Catz are being named CEO of the company. Oracle doesn’t seem to be handing out a co-CEO between the two which is rather odd. While the two new CEO’s or Oracle make themselves comfortable in their new offices, Larry Ellison has no plans to leave the company. Instead, Ellison will become executive chairman and chief technology officer.
According to presiding director of Oracles board Dr. Michael Boskin, “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.” In addition to his comments made about Ellison, Boskin says “Safra and Mark are exceptional executives who have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to lead, manage and grow the company. The Directors are thrilled that the best senior executive team in the industry will continue to move the company forward into a bright future.”
With the CEO position filled at Oracle, the company says that with two people as CEO and Ellison as CTO, the three men will work in tandem. “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. Keeping this management team in place has always been a top priority of mine,” said Ellison. Oracle has a very large business and has many enterprise products. The new changes in the company are for the better as Hurd, Catz, and Ellison plan to grow the company even more. On the plus side, having two new faces for the company brings new ideas and strategies that will be put in place to help Oracle raise their growth and earnings that have seen better days these past couple years. While Hurd and Catz continue to pack up and move to their shiny new office desk, let us know your thoughts about Ellison’s step down and how it will affect the company.