In the year 2000, Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, was invited to deliver a speech to Yale University graduates. However, due to the outrageous and arrogant content of his speech, where he strongly advocated dropping out of school, he was unprecedentedly escorted off the stage by security.
Read the “Larry Ellison Yale University Speech at 2000”
This tech tycoon, whose net worth once surpassed that of Bill Gates, not only holds a pilot’s license but also owns an Oracle sailing team, two fighter jets, a $200 million private yacht, and even made a cameo appearance as Tony Stark in “Iron Man 2.” He has also made extravagant purchases, such as buying a private island in Hawaii.
Who could have imagined that before the age of 32, Ellison was just an unstable worker, divorced at the request of his ex-wife, and considered a loser?
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His background had some ups and downs. Shortly after his birth, Ellison was infected with pneumonia, and his mother was unable to care for him, so he was adopted by his aunt living in Chicago. During his schooling years, Ellison had a somewhat solitary and assertive personality. He had a special interest in outer space, high technology, and was also passionate about sports.
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In 1960, Ellison entered the University of Illinois but dropped out due to the death of his adoptive mother. A year later, he entered the University of Chicago but was expelled due to a loss of enthusiasm for learning. In 1966, at the age of 22, he moved to California, starting his life in Silicon Valley.
In the following years, Ellison worked as a computer engineer, constantly honing his skills at different companies. In 1977, he invested $1,200 to become a co-founder of SDL (Software Development Laboratories) with his former colleague Bob Miner. They developed a database management storage system called Oracle 2. The purpose was to differentiate it from the previously developed Oracle 1 in the previous company and gain a competitive advantage in the market through the name. This database system became the key to their future success.
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Initially, the company had only eight employees, with annual revenues less than $1 million. The turning point came in 1981 when IBM decided to adopt the Oracle 2 system, bringing substantial income to the company. Over the next seven years, the company’s revenue doubled continuously. As a marketing strategy, Ellison decided to rename the company as Oracle Corporation.
In 1986, Oracle went public, raising $31.5 million at a price of $15 per share. However, Oracle faced challenges along the way. In 1990, the company conducted an internal investigation due to a lawsuit from internal shareholders and discovered that it had exaggerated its earnings.
After the incident, Oracle’s market value plummeted by 80% and was on the brink of bankruptcy. Ellison almost lost everything, and the board of directors asked him to resign. However, he firmly refused, reorganized the company’s finances, and by the end of 1992, Oracle’s financial health had been restored. Ellison continued to firmly hold the position of CEO.
Read “Oracle’s corporate anniversary timeline”
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Ellison is extremely aggressive, and any company he sets his sights on must be acquired, without hesitation. Since 2000, Ellison has embarked on a series of acquisitions, the most famous of which is the hostile takeover of the large human capital management company, PeopleSoft.
This battle lasted nearly two years, and Ellison was determined to win. From the initial offer of $5.1 billion, he raised it all the way to $10.3 billion. Despite PeopleSoft’s rejections and appeals, he ultimately got his wish and acquired this large human resources management company, gaining access to its human resources management software technology.
In 2008 and 2010, Ellison also acquired BEA Systems and Sun Microsystems, expanding Oracle’s IT infrastructure software, data storage, and server supply businesses. Along with dozens of other acquisitions, Ellison spent nearly $45 billion, all in an effort to surpass his perceived “sole” rival—Microsoft.
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Ellison is known for not mincing his words. He once bluntly insulted HP’s board of directors as “idiots” and even mocked SAP’s co-founder, Hasso Plattner, as having “Einstein-like disheveled hair.”
Interestingly, despite his controversial personality, Ellison had a friendly relationship with Jobs. Jobs even served as the photographer at Ellison’s fourth wedding.
Today, Oracle is the world’s second-largest software supplier, second only to Microsoft. As of May 31st of this year, Oracle’s total revenue was $10.44 billion, a 6.26% decrease compared to the same period last year but still quite substantial. Although he is considered cunning and has had four marriages, with a controversial personal life, Ellison has still written his own formula for success with his unconventional approach and unique strategic positioning.
“The only way to succeed is to discover the mistakes in so-called conventional wisdom,” Ellison once wrote on Twitter.