Childhood
Larry Ellison was born on August 17, 1944, in one of the most troubled areas of New York. His mother, a very young 19-year-old Florence Spelman, was an emigrant with Jewish roots, and his father was an Air Force pilot of Italian descent. Unfortunately, it was not possible to meet Larry’s father - he was transferred on duty to another country even before Florence found out about the pregnancy.
However, Larry managed to communicate with his mother as an adult man. When the baby was only 9 months old, he became very ill - pneumonia was extremely difficult for him to tolerate. It was then that Mrs. Spelman decided for herself that the baby would be better off without her and gave him to the care of his aunt and uncle. So, Lilia Spelman Ellison and her husband Lewis Ellison from Chicago became parents - they adopted their niece's child. They lived like that, without telling him the truth and the name of their mother for 48 years.
Larry grew up as a difficult teenager - he had a complex character and his own point of view, which he tried to defend at all costs. On this basis, clashes regularly arose between him and his adoptive father, which Larry, due to his young age, constantly lost. He cried often - it was very difficult to withstand the moral pressure of Lewis Spelman. “You won’t achieve anything, you’re nobody, you’re not capable of anything”—the future billionaire heard these phrases regularly.
At the same time, Larry’s outlet was sports - if at home and at school he could not feel confident, then playing squash, hockey or volleyball, the guy was at his best. The latter sport was especially to the liking of the young man, and when he missed the ball, as a result of which his team lost, it became a real tragedy. His adoptive father could not help but take advantage of this opportunity - he cut out a note from a local newspaper telling about this unfortunate incident, not forgetting at the first opportunity to remind Larry “who he is and what he is worth.”
Education
But the guy did not despair - he firmly knew that he could succeed in life, since he was not only no worse than others, but also much smarter than some of his peers, and bad grades at school did not mean anything. In fact, he was simply not interested in school subjects, and the manner in which the teachers presented them made him sleepy. But this did not stop him from entering the University of Illinois. Here he was finally able to open up - student life was to the liking of young Larry. Both studying and communicating with classmates brought him pleasure, but this time did not last long - the guy’s adoptive mother unexpectedly died, and he hastily left his studies without passing the exams. Just a year later, Larry tried to enter the university again, this time the University of Chicago, but after just a semester he was kicked out - the talented, but not studying student did not suit the professors.
And if someone gave up, Larry saw the end of his studies as the beginning of a new path - a path on which success awaited him. Looking around, he quickly realized that global computerization was coming and decided not to hesitate - Larry began reading thematic publications, signed up for courses, and was also a frequent guest at events one way or another related to computer technology. After spending a little time in this environment, he realized that he understood things well enough for a “dummies” and, most importantly, he grasped everything on the fly.
As soon as the boy turned 20, he moved from Chicago to California, where he began to make a living by writing small but pretty good computer programs. Now he confidently said that becoming a millionaire was his destiny. Just like in Chicago, few people believed him - he was too eccentric, fickle and “simple.” But he had one talent that no one could deny - the talent to convince, and this concerned not only his colleagues, but also his management. Who knows, perhaps it was this trait that helped him achieve what he has now.
Creation of "Oracle"
Working in a small private company Amtex in the early 70s, Ellison could already safely call himself a specialist in the field of programming. He created databases that were convenient and easy to use, and at the same time “covered” many factors.
Around the same time, he created a fundamentally new database, which received an original and accurate name - “Oracle”. The “Oracle” was almost a living mechanism that could find, select, compare and calculate. Larry understood that such an invention should not be transferred into one person's hands, and therefore, already in 1977, with the support of Robert Miner (former manager of Amtex), he founded the company of the same name and began promoting his own product. However, as practice has shown, clients needed not only a powerful database management system, but also an accessible manual for their operation, since few people had previously encountered such software. The partners almost completely switched to IT consulting, but after reading an article by Edgar Codd, Ellison discovered the possibilities of the SQL programming language. Taking up this idea thoroughly, Larry filled this niche as the first of all existing companies at that time, even before the giant IBM. Moreover, in 1981, IBM themselves acquired Oracle for their own use.
Not without losses, but not without victories
In 1986, Oracle brought Ellison one of the leading positions on the Forbes list. Inspired by his achievement, he did not pay attention to what was going on in the accounting department of his company, and there, by the way, there was a complete mess: money was disappearing from accounts, the transactions concluded were very dubious, and clients were indignant, giving preference to competitors among whom there were already SAP and Microsoft.
How long does it take to lose 36 million dollars? If Ellison had answered this question, he would have said with confidence that only one quarter would be enough - it was during this period that the company lost this huge amount. “We lost,” the phrase was said by the creator at one of the boards of directors. Everyone expected the collapse of the company, but Ellison was able to pull himself together and “settle” the situation - he fired all the managers who led the company into decline and recruited new staff. The result was not long in coming - a year later the company’s profit reached 1 billion, and a year later it doubled. Having survived the crisis, Larry actively began buying up competing companies. One of the most resonant events of this time was the acquisition of PeopleSoft for $10 billion. But it wasn’t a matter of price - Ellison, taught by the bitter experience of unscrupulous employees, left “overboard most of the personnel who had worked in the company before his arrival. People went on strike and appealed to the authorities, but the law was on the side of the billionaire.
Larry Ellison today
Having left the post of CEO of Oracle in 2014, Ellison, however, did not disappear from view for long. Today he is the chairman of the board of directors, and also works as a technology director, whose responsibilities are directly related to the development of software products. Larry is also known for his ability to relax beautifully - having yachts, villas and even a real fighter jet at his disposal, it’s probably not difficult to do this.
Personal life and fortune
Larry Ellison has been married four times, and his personal story is as fascinating as his professional one. The three first official wives - Ada Quinn (1967-1974), Nancy Wheeler (1977-1978) and Barbara Booth (1983-1986) all unanimously claimed that Larry was cheerful, smart, interesting, it was never boring with him, but life with him, it's like sleeping on a powder keg.
In addition to official relationships in the life of Larry - rich and influential - there were many fleeting romances, mainly with employees of his own company. Here we cannot fail to mention a girl named Adeline, whose relationship became public knowledge. And all because Adeline, already during her relationship with Ellisn, was fired by one of the managers. Then the young lady, without hesitation, filed a lawsuit against Ellison, providing fake evidence of the use of violence against her in one of the last meetings. And the court believed her, obliging Ellison to pay the girl 100 thousand dollars. But Larry would not be himself if he had left this matter like that - at the end of the litigation, he filed a counterclaim, accusing Adeline of tampering with evidence.
After further investigation, the fact of fraud was confirmed, and the girl was sent to prison for a year. Today, Larry is happily married to Melanie Craft, a writer who has published a novel based on her own love story with a billionaire. Larry also has children - David and Megan from his marriage to Barbara Booth.
As for his fortune, when he first appeared in Forbes magazine in 1986, he never left it. As of 2016, Lawrence Joseph Ellison has a net worth of $43.6 billion.
Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, is better known for his extravagant entertainment than for his talented leadership of the company. However, he runs the world's second largest software company and owns and operates his own fighter jet (an Italian Marchetti). firearms stopped his attempt to buy a Russian MIG). Ellison is also a world class sailor. Last February, his yacht Sayonara* crossed the finish line first in her class in the cutthroat Sydney to Hobart race.
Ellison's other passion is architecture. In Japan, he hired craftsmen to build an intricate hand-built house, which, once completed, would be dismantled and transported across Pacific Ocean and assembled at Ellison's new property in California. And here's another thing: the thrice-divorced billionaire is considered something of a rake. Ellison is known as Silicon Valley's most sophisticated philanderer.
That's the reputation. However, in Lately work week Larry Ellison has been extended to 50 hours. The volume of his work has increased accordingly. Ellison personally oversees every aspect of Oracle's work with missionary zeal, from changing the company's notoriously aggressive (and highly paid) sales organization to overhauling its operations and information systems Oracle. Ellison is also strategically rethinking the company's business.
It would seem that this is a standard set of managerial functions. But Larry Ellison is hardly your typical leader. Behind the fake tan and Armani suit lies an obsessive genius who, throughout Oracle's 22-year history, has only worried about the technical details of software development. He considered everything else too mundane to think about, and entrusted the solution of these issues to the “junior” Ray Lane, president and chief operating officer of Oracle, or someone else.
When Allison says “The Internet changes everything,” she really means everything. Four years ago, it was decided to change all the company's products so that they could be used
through the Internet. In the fall of 1998, Ellison went even further, deciding that Oracle itself should become a consumer of the technology that it was trying to sell to people.
So, in 1999, Ellison became seriously interested in work. Those who know him well enough say that he hardly even visits Sayonara, has stopped overseeing the construction of his Japanese home, and has made only one flight in a fighter, and that was to the equipment assembly site. Ellison also has a permanent girlfriend, and his silver Mercedes finds its place in the office parking lot more often than ever.
What is the reason for such radical changes?
Best of the day
To understand Larry Ellison's mood, which he has been in for over a year, you should familiarize yourself with his understanding of "Internet computing" and also understand how this concept differs from "client-server" technology (the option that Microsoft has been striving for the last 10 years , and until recently Oracle itself).
The main product produced by Oracle is the DBMS. They are used by corporations for distributed storage of operational information, such as: customer lists, equipment data, employee records, financial records, transaction histories, correspondence, juristic documents and much more. Ellison wisely ran the leading database system (the latest version, Oracle 8i) on IBM computers, Unix servers from Sun, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard, as well as Wintel servers from dozens of other vendors. Oracle has more than 120 thousand customers in 145 countries. It has a 61% share of the database software market, but the company has not yet protected itself from competitors such as IBM, Informix, Sybase and, of course, Microsoft, which has added data storage capabilities directly to Windows NT.
Oracle also makes enterprise applications - advanced programs that have run on desktop client computers, such as PCs, since the beginning. These programs are placed in database servers in order to obtain source information for the purpose of tracking the necessary data and further managing the business - making payments, managing production and labor, conducting transactions, as well as any other corporate activity. Oracle was a latecomer to the enterprise applications market, but is now a leader in the field. Oracle's main competitors in this business are SAP, PeopleSoft and Banyan.
And although client-server software became extremely popular in 1999, it had disadvantages - high cost and difficulty in maintaining. In addition, the client-server model requires constant support from highly paid specialists and scatters fragments of corporate information among many computers, making it difficult to form a coherent picture of the company's work.
As the Internet increases the variety of devices embedded in databases, Ellison argues that it makes sense for customers to be able to find data and manage business processes through simple Internet browsers - instead of specialized and complex application software. He argues that data can be concentrated in more large systems(and there will be much fewer systems themselves), which will lead to saving money and reducing the number of “smart people” needed to run the company. What is important is that corporate employees will be able to more easily receive reports on current work. According to Ellison, “Internet computing can really provide the whole picture.”
After some reflection and consultation with, among others, his friend Steve Jobs, Ellison decreed that all Oracle enterprise software products must have a Web interface. He also decided to curtail the production of products for client-server technologies. At the same time, he founded the company NCI (Network Computer Inc.) to promote “incomplete network computers” (PCs without Windows and disk drives) and Internet TVs. Everything was set up within one month in the spring of 1997. Larry went on vacation in the summer.
Returning to work in the fall, Ellison, however, discovered that work in the directions he had set was not progressing at all. Software developers demonstrated dedication to his vision of “Internetizing” the product line, but they secretly assured long-time customers that Oracle was not actually abandoning client-server applications. Finding himself in a difficult situation, Ellison began dedicating three days a week to personal supervision of software development and since then has never taken a vacation of more than two weeks.
Ellison believes that he simply failed to convince everyone of the seriousness of his intentions. But he is convinced that the transition to Internet computing will be the last major change in technology architecture for many years to come, with database technology at the center.
In the fall of 1998, Oracle software developers began delivering Internetized versions of most of their software models. They have also prepared technologies and products specifically for Internet computing. Oracle's biggest hope is in what it calls customer relationship management software, which helps the company's field offices track and follow up on sales deals.
In addition to changes in technology, Ellison and Lane reorganized the sales mechanism itself, which was carried out by 7 thousand people. Ellison discovered that too many Oracle sales representatives were calling the same companies. Now, to work with each specific company, Oracle assigns a specific representative, or less often, a group of several people, each of whom sells the full line of Oracle products and services. Ellison set up representatives to encourage customers to order software, services or support online directly from Oracle.
At the same time, Ellison, along with executive vice president Gary Bloom, headed a completely new business for Oracle - Business Online.
Ellison also ordered a complete change in Oracle's advertising slogans. The new ad campaign focused on how Oracle's software powers the Web sites of Yahoo, Amazon.com, eBay and E*Trade.
Now a significant source of Oracle's wealth is the Web. The company's turnover in the last quarter rose to $2.4 billion, from $2.1 billion a year ago, while current revenue increased by 80% to $498 million.
The amazing changes did not leave investors indifferent. Oracle shares are up 500% in the past 12 months. Thanks to this, the company's market capital has exceeded $220 billion, and Ellison's personal fortune is approaching $53 billion.
Business to business
As a full-fledged Internet company, Oracle worked to create partnerships that allowed it to establish Internet trading exchanges. These exchanges can be used by companies operating in vertical industries to exchange information coming from suppliers. Oracle has already become the main technology supplier for three such exchanges: GlobalNetXchange, AutoXchange, RetailMarket-Xchange.
In January 2000, Oracle launched Oracle Exchange, a horizontal marketplace where businesses can buy and sell supplies needed for their operations, from chalkboards to paper towels. In November 1999, the company announced the possibility of joining forces to create a Ford auto exchange. In February 2000, Oracle partnered with two major automobile manufacturers, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler, to create a unified automobile exchange that would run on Oracle software and Commerce One.
Oracle is also currently in talks with Chevron (a gas station chain) and McLane (a subsidiary of Wal-Mart).
Nothing will be left untouched
Having gained a foothold in the database market, Larry Ellison discovered another field of activity - wireless Internet access.
In February 2000, the billionaire announced the creation of OracleMobile.com, a subsidiary that operates an Internet portal for users of cell phones and duplex pagers. The portal offers free information on weather etc. Users can also buy books, make other purchases and take part in stock trading using their phones.
In Ellison's own words, he created a company "that will turn the phone into an Internet application."
We will all be there...
Powerful, rich, good-looking Larry Ellison with all his yachts, houses, airplanes can lose many of the joys of life in one day. And this will happen when old age comes. But unlike most potential victims of age, Ellison does something to combat the power of time: the foundation he founded annually transfers about $20 million to research related to the problem of human aging.
It will - it won't...
Since the beginning of this year, we have already heard twice about a possible change in leadership among the world's rich. Well, it's hard to argue with the numbers, and what they say is that today Larry Ellison is closer than ever to being named the richest man.
When Microsoft's stock price fell in April following renewed speculation about a possible US government breakup, Bill Gates' Microsoft shares were worth $49.4 billion, while Ellison's stake in Oracle was valued at $48 billion. dollars.
These two men are too famous for their eternal competition. (In a 1996 interview with Forbes, Ellison said that he once almost bought a supersonic fighter. “Then I might have dropped a couple of shells on Gates’s house,” Ellison joked).
There is only one annoying fact that can somewhat darken Ellison's likely joy on the occasion of victory: according to Forbes magazine, Gates has at least $10 billion invested in securities of other companies, while Ellison has only $200 million. Thus Thus, Ellison could become “only” the second richest person in America and possibly the world.
But it should be noted that Gates was still more consistent in his ascent to the top of the list of the richest people in the world. Both Gates and Ellison appeared in Forbes magazine's 1986 ranking. At that time, Gates's fortune was approximately $315 million, and Ellison's was $185. Gates came in first place in 1992 and maintained the lead throughout all these years (except for 1993, when Warren Buffett was last named the richest).
Ellison has never even cracked the top three, but that could change this year.
He is called an extravagant person, an actor, a despot. The high-profile characteristics fully reflect the explosive temperament, business style and personal life of Lawrence Joseph Ellison. The founder of Oracle Corporation is known for his loud statements, which often border on shocking. None of this prevents Lawrence, better known as Larry, from running a talented business, occupying a leading position in the software industry. At the same time, start life path One of the billionaires of our time did not at all foretell great achievements and high positions in the Forbes ranking. Photo: Oracle PR
Dreamer, loser, rebel
When Lawrence was born (this happened on August 17, 1944 in New York), his mother Florence Spelman was 19. An emigrant from Odessa did not want to waste her youth raising her son, preferring to spend time in nightclubs. According to other sources, Miss Spelman lacked not so much maternal instinct as a means of subsistence. One way or another, when by the age of 9 months the baby contracted pneumonia, Florence gave him up to be raised by her uncle and aunt. The boy's new parents, Louis (Lewis) and Lillian, lived in Chicago.
Larry's adoptive father was a native of Crimea, of Jewish origin. To hide this, during emigration he changed his surname Goldman to the American Ellison. The head of the family was a civil servant, then made capital in real estate, but lost everything during the Great Depression. Larry's childhood was not carefree: insults from his father, bad grades at school. The boy often heard that he was worthless, stupid, and would never achieve anything. The answer to the humiliation was tears, but the boy continued to rebel, defy, and conflict.
Interesting fact. Lawrence's biological father was an Italian pilot in the US Armed Forces. The extravagant billionaire probably owes his interesting appearance and explosive temperament to him.
The guy achieved more or less significant success in sports, playing hockey, squash, and volleyball. One day the school team lost because of him, and it was written about in the local newspaper. Louis Ellison cut out the note and never missed an opportunity to show it to his adopted son, calling him a loser again. Insults, nagging, losses - all this shaped the character of the future businessman and brought the time of his triumph closer.
It was impossible to force Lawrence to study the school curriculum. The intelligent guy was drawn to knowledge, but only that which he chose himself. He was interested spaceships, black holes, the structure of human genes. Larry had good mathematical abilities, and soon discovered his talent as a programmer. The schoolboy began to earn extra money: he wrote programs for which he received high fees, comparable to the salary of a university teacher.
When the boy was 12, he learned about his origin. After this, the teenager began to imagine that his real father was the owner of a large fortune, and the same fate was in store for him. Classmates were amazed listening to the tales of Larry, who knew how and loved to fantasize. Even then, Lawrence showed an innate gift of persuasion, which revealed itself over the years.
Finding myself
After school, Larry Ellison entered the University of Illinois. Studying here was easy and interesting. When the guy was in his second year, the family suffered grief: Lillian died. Lawrence threw educational institution, began to get by with part-time jobs.
A year later he became a student again, this time at the University of Chicago. Here the future billionaire mastered computer science, but only studied for a semester. It turned out that interest in studying had faded. He was expelled for absenteeism and poor academic performance. The guy understood: theory and practice are two different things, and although a good education is an advantage, it still does not guarantee success in business.
20-year-old Lawrence went to sunny California. Using all his knowledge about computers, he again began writing custom programs. The work brought in good money, but it was only enough for rent and food. Larry did not know how to accumulate savings at all, spending them in a short time. The young man was a regular at a cheap pizzeria, wore the simplest clothes, and rode a bicycle to work. At the same time, the programmer constantly told his colleagues that he would be rich, but no one except himself believed it.
The main thing in life
To achieve the dream of substantial capital, self-confidence alone was not enough. Lawrence constantly calculated schemes and ways to become a wealthy businessman. One day he got lucky. This happened in the early 1970s, when Ellison was working for a small company called Amtex. By that time, the self-taught programmer already knew how to develop powerful databases that calculate various options. Larry created one of these systems, called Oracle, for the CIA and Air Force USA.
An almost ideal mechanism could handle a large number of queries and was easy to use. The talented invention turned out to be too good to become just another database. Realizing this, Lawrence created his own company (1977), which he first called SDL and later renamed Oracle. He took Bob Miner and Ed Oates, colleagues from Amtex, as partners.
Larry made significant breakthroughs in the computer industry. His Oracle program stored everything from client lists to legal documents. Software buyers needed training, and IT consulting was born. Lawrence made full use of his gift of persuasion. He assured clients that the Oracle, like a true visionary, was doing incredible things. For example, it can determine where to buy the best beer in New York.
At first, the company employed 8 people, and annual profits did not exceed $1 million. But soon the company's income increased sharply: the talented Larry came up with an operating system compatible with IBM. The lucky businessman managed to consider the potential in the SQL query language in time.
Interesting fact. Thanks to the rapid development of his business, Ellison was included in the Forbes list for the first time in 1986. At the time, his personal net worth was $185 million, and the company's estimated value was $31.5 million.
Revenues grew annually, but soon after the rapid rise a serious crisis occurred. In 1990, Oracle's value dropped by 80%. The company was on the verge of bankruptcy, Ellison admitted this. Many clients began to cooperate with the main competitor - Bill Gates. Larry's company was accused of almost all the mortal sins: deceiving clients, fraud, concealing profits, incorrect accounting.
In one quarter, the company lost $36 million, the value of shares decreased by 5 times. The personal losses of the founder of Oracle turned out to be no less impressive: minus 800 million out of 954. The situation was aggravated by lawsuits and Ellison’s large debt load. With borrowed money, the head of the corporation bought yachts, cars, and houses.
Giving up meant losing, but Larry couldn't afford that. The manager fired most of the managers and hired experienced professionals to replace them. I decided to focus on improving the software. The strategy paid off 100%. By 1991, Oracle's profits amounted to $1 billion. After 3 years, the amount doubled.
Interesting fact. The beginning of the 1990s was marked by an important event for Ellison in his personal life. Using the services of private detectives, he found his biological mother and met with her.
Don't stop there
In 2004, an American entrepreneur became the owner of the People Soft company, and 2 years later he bought BEA. Thus, Larry sought to get rid of competitors. As a result of the transactions, many company employees found themselves unemployed, some products began to be released under the Oracle label, and other programs disappeared completely. Business cruelty has caused scandals, strikes, and high-profile proceedings that have changed nothing.
Lawrence Ellison openly calls his business strategy, merciless and aggressive, a war that he intends to win by any means necessary. The businessman's despotism is legendary, but Larry is confident that the end justifies the means. He hires only the best of the best, the most ambitious, hardworking employees.
For many years in a row, Larry has been striving to get ahead of his main competitor, Bill Gates. In 2009, both billionaires took the highest positions in the Forbes ranking, only Ellison was second after Bill. In 2017, Larry dropped to 7th place with a net worth of $52.2 billion. But his brainchild, Oracle Corporation, is still the second largest software producer in the world.
In 2014, Lawrence, unexpectedly for many, resigned from his position as CEO of the company. At the same time, he retained the positions of director of technology development and head of the board of directors. Ellison later announced that Oracle would be involved in cloud technologies in detail. Once again, the talented businessman’s instincts did not let him down: for Last year The corporation's shares increased by 18%. Like many billionaires, Lawrence is involved in charity work, financing medicine and education. A few years ago, he joined the Giving Pledge, pledging to donate up to 95% of his net worth to philanthropy.
Ellison's personal life is also the subject of active discussions. The successful businessman was married 4 times, his third wife gave birth to a son and a daughter. Now Larry is single again, but does not suffer from loneliness. He has everything he dreamed of: a thriving business, money, the favor of women.
Thanks to his solid capital, Ellison's acquisitions include one of the Hawaiian Islands, several airplanes, a Formula 1 car, a yacht, a professional tennis tournament, and a lot of real estate. The billionaire is fond of extreme sports, loves risk, speed, and thrills. All this has something in common with how an entrepreneur runs a business, because sometimes success depends on how quickly the right decision is made. Many people criticize Larry Ellison, but this does not diminish his merits. The name of a talented programmer and businessman has already been forever inscribed in the history of software development.
Lawrence Joseph Ellison - American businessman, founder of Oracle Corporation, former CEO, largest shareholder NetSuite and early investor in Salesforce.com. Human interesting fate and extraordinary abilities.
The beginning of this man's life did not promise him much success. An eternally dissatisfied father, no special talents, mediocre school performance...
All this foreshadowed Larry Ellison (born in 1944 in New York) the usual dull life of an ordinary person. And only Larry’s incredible imagination sharply distinguished him from his peers.
A particularly penchant for fantasy began to manifest itself after the boy found out that he was an adopted son. In his dreams, he imagined himself as the heir to a large fortune, and, as an adult, he continued to tell tales about his father’s money and his own higher education which he didn't have.
But quite unexpectedly, Larry showed a talent for programming. The guy quickly realized this and mastered new and incomprehensible knowledge for most.
He learned to write programs, and then sold them and received good money. However, Ellison did not know how to save banknotes; they disappeared quite quickly. However, young man This did not upset him at all, he believed that he would be rich and successful.
In the 70s, Larry found his goldmine - he decided to create and sell unique databases that were capable of reading the most incredible options. It was then that the Oracle program was created.
Ellison knew how to use his gift of persuasion and rich imagination well. He assured customers that the program was capable of processing a lot of data and producing accurate results. For example, she can answer the question: where can you buy the freshest beer in New York?
Larry convinced that his product was suitable for both mainframe computers and minicomputers. Naturally, the programmers who worked with him did not have time to realize all his fantasies and promises.
Therefore, customers quite often encountered poor-quality work. However, there was no choice, since there were no analogues to Oracle at that time. Even such serious departments as the CIA and the US Air Force became interested in his developments.
Larry Ellison always demanded complete dedication from his subordinates. And this tactic paid off: Oracle became the fastest growing company in America.
Income increased every day, and employees had every chance of getting rich. Within the team there was a spirit of eternal competition, which was set by Ellison himself.
Only the strongest and most aggressive survived. All this was duly encouraged, so Oracle's development proceeded at a rapid pace. Naturally, Larry dealt with his competitors in the harshest possible way, using all available methods.
However, this could not last forever. One day, not the most beautiful day, thunder erupted over Ellison's head. Everything came to light: inaccuracies in accounting, deception of clients, theft in the company...
Several years passed in litigation and constant dismissals of employees. But every cloud has a silver lining. Oracle's new developments were much better. The company's financial position began to improve rapidly.
Ellison decided that databases should function in such a way that they could be easily managed over the Internet. That is, the “client-server” technology should replace “Internet computing”. This will give everyone the opportunity to use simple Internet browsers, rather than resort to complex application software.
All this will greatly facilitate reporting in large corporations and save a significant amount of money. Having given the appropriate orders to the software developers, Larry left to rest. However, upon arrival, he did not see any significant progress in the work. His idea seemed too extravagant to the employees. After this incident, Ellison did not leave the company for more than two weeks.
Throughout his 22 years as a manager, Larry Ellison held the reins of power in his hands. In 2000, he was ranked second on the list of the richest people in the world according to Forbes.
The first place was occupied by Bill Gates, for whom Ellison constantly felt a feeling of deep hostility. However, unexpectedly for everyone, in 2004 he decided to sell most of the shares and resign as chairman of the board of directors.
However, the reason turned out to be quite simple: having reached the top in business, Larry Ellison finally decided to improve his personal life and get married for the fourth time.
Lawrence Joseph"Larry"Allison(English: Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Ellison) - American entrepreneur, co-founder, chairman of the board of directors and chief technology officer (CTO) of Oracle Corporation, former chief executive officer (CEO) of Oracle (1976-2014), largest shareholder of NetSuite (absorbed by Oracle in 2016 for $9.3 billion), initial investor in Salesforce.com, philanthropist.
As of August 2017, with a net worth of $60.6 billion, Forbes magazine ranks him fifth in America and seventh in the world among the richest.
Place of Birth. Education. Born on August 17, 1944 in New York to Florence Spellman, a 19-year-old unmarried Jewish woman. His father was an American Air Force pilot of Italian descent. Her father was transferred overseas to a new duty station even before Spellman realized she was pregnant. When nine-month-old Larry fell ill with pneumonia, his mother realized that she could not properly care for her child. At his mother's request, he was placed in the care of his mother's uncle and aunt in Chicago. Lillian Spellman Ellison and Louis Ellison adopted Larry when he was 9 months old. Ellison didn't know his mother's name and hadn't met her for 48 years.
Ellison grew up in Chicago, attended school there, and began his studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Due to the death of his adoptive mother, he did not take exams after the second year of study. After a summer spent in northern California with friend Chuck Weiss, he returned to Chicago and studied for a semester at the University of Chicago, where he was first introduced to computer science. In 1964, at the age of 20, he moved to northern California.
Business. In the early 1970s he worked for Amdahl and Ampex. One of his projects at Ampex was developing a database system for the CIA, which he called Oracle.
Ellison was greatly influenced by Edgar Codd's paper "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks", which is considered the first work on a relational data model. He, along with two Ampex colleagues, founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL) in 1977. In 1979, SDL was renamed Relational Software Inc., and a few years later - in 1982 - into Oracle, after the name of the main product - Oracle Database. Knowing about the existence of the IBM System R DBMS, which was also based on Codd's ideas, Ellison tried to make the Oracle DBMS compatible with it. However, IBM refused to disclose the source code of the program and failed to ensure compatibility of the DBMS. The first version released was the Oracle v2 DBMS in 1979; for marketing reasons, the first version number was not assigned.
In the 1980s, Oracle was releasing new versions of the DBMS. In 1986, Oracle shares began to be listed on the stock exchange, and in three years the company increased its sales tenfold, which reached $584 million. However, already in 1990, the company encountered difficulties, announcing losses, and was forced to lay off hundreds of its employees.
In September 2014, he resigned as CEO of Oracle Corporation, having worked in this post for almost 38 years - since the founding of the corporation, but he remained chairman of the board of directors and took the post of chief technology officer (CTO) of Oracle Corporation. In this position, he will remain responsible for managing the development of software and hardware for Oracle.
In November 2016, Oracle acquired NetSuite for $9.3 billion. Ellison had a 35% stake at the time of the purchase and personally received $3.5 billion from the deal.
State. Ellison's name first appeared in Forbes magazine in 1986, when his fortune was estimated at $185 million. At the peak of the value of technology companies before the dot-com crash in 2000, his net worth was estimated at $48 billion.
As of September 2012, the fortune was estimated at $44 billion - third in the United States (after the fortunes and).
As of February 2016, his fortune is estimated at $43.6 billion (7th place in the world).
As of August 2017, with a fortune of $60.6 billion, Forbes magazine ranks fifth in America and seventh in the world.
In 2019, his fortune was estimated at $62.5 billion, which ensured 7th place in the ranking of the richest people in the world according to Forbes.
Philanthropist. In August 2010, it was reported that Ellison is one of 40 billionaires who have signed "The Giving Pledge" (a campaign to encourage wealthy people to give the majority of their wealth to charity). Alison wrote: “Many years ago, I placed virtually all of my assets in a trust with the intention of giving away at least 95% of my wealth to charitable causes. I have already given hundreds of millions of dollars to medical research and education, and I will be giving away billions over time. Until now, I have done this quietly because I have long believed that charitable giving is a personal and personal matter.”
In 1998, the Lawrence J. Ellison Ambulatory Care Center opened on the Sacramento campus of UC Davis Medical Center.
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Ellison made an offer to donate software to the federal government that would enable the construction and operation of a national identification database and issuance of ID cards.
In May 2016, Ellison donated $200 million to the University of Southern California to create a cancer research center: the USC Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine.
Family. Ellison was married 4 times: from 1967-1974 - Ada Quinn, from 1977-1978 - Nancy Wheeler, from 1983-1986 - Barbara Boothe, from 2003-2010 - Melanie Craft. In his marriage to Barbara Booth, two children were born - David Ellison and Megan Ellison.
