Larry Allison oracle. The story of Larry Ellison - "immodest" billionaire, founder of Oracle

Childhood

Larry Ellison was born on August 17, 1944, in one of the most troubled areas of New York. His own mother, a very young 19-year-old Florence Spelman, was an immigrant with Jewish roots, and his father was an Italian-born Air Force military pilot. Unfortunately, it was not possible to meet Larry's father - he was transferred to work in 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 endure. 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 her aunt and uncle. So, Lilia Spelman Allison and her husband Lewis Allison from Chicago became parents - they adopted a niece's child. So they lived, not telling him the truth and the name of his 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, no matter what. On this basis, skirmishes regularly arose between him and his adoptive father, which Larry, due to his young age, constantly lost. He often cried - to withstand the moral pressure of Lewis Spelman was oh how not easy. “You will not achieve anything, you are nobody, you are 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 fail to take advantage of this opportunity - he cut out a note from the local newspaper telling about this unfortunate incident, not forgetting to remind Larry "who he is and what he is worth" at the first opportunity.

Education

But the guy did not despair - he knew for sure 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 poor grades at school did not mean anything. In fact, he was simply not interested in school subjects, and the manner in which they were presented by teachers completely put him to sleep. But that didn't stop him from going to the University of Illinois. Here he was finally able to open up - student life came to the liking of young Larry. Both study and communication with classmates brought him pleasure, but this time did not last long - the guy's adoptive mother suddenly died, and he hastily left the training without passing the exams. Just a year later, Larry still tried to enter the university again, this time at Chicago, but after just a semester he was expelled - a talented, but not studying student did not suit the professors.

And if someone would give up, then Larry saw the end of training as the beginning of a new path - the path on which success awaited him. Looking around, he quickly realized that global computerization was coming and decided not to hesitate - Larry began to read thematic publications, enrolled in 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 understands well, as for a "teapot" and, most importantly, he grasps everything on the fly.

As soon as the boy turned 20, he moved from Chicago to California, where he began to earn his living by writing small, but pretty good computer programs. Now he confidently spoke about the fact that becoming a millionaire is his destiny. As in Chicago, few people believed him - he was too eccentric, fickle and "simple". But he had one talent, which no one could deny - the talent to convince, and this concerned not only colleagues, but also management. Who knows, perhaps it was this trait that helped to achieve what he has now.

Creation of "Oracle"

Working for a small private company, Amtex, in the early 1970s, Ellison was already able to call himself a programming specialist. He created databases that were user-friendly and easy to use, while "covering" many factors.

Around the same time, he created a fundamentally new database, which received the original and accurate name - "Oracle" ("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 to one hand, 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 the most 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. Having taken up this idea thoroughly, Larry occupied this niche as the first of all the companies existing at that time, even before the giant IBM. Moreover, in 1981, IBM themselves acquired the Oracle for their own use.

Not without losses, but not without victories

In 1986, "Oracle" brought Ellison one of the leading lines on the Forbes list. Inspired by such an achievement, he did not pay attention to what was happening in the accounting department of his company, and there, by the way, there was a complete mess: money disappeared from the accounts, transactions were very doubtful, and customers were indignant, preferring competitors among which already had SAP and Microsoft.

How long does it take to lose $36 million? If Ellison had answered this question, he would have confidently said that only one quarter would be enough - it was during such a period that the company lost this huge amount. “We lost,” the phrase came from the lips of 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 "resolve" 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 to buy up competing companies. One of the most resonant events of this time was the $10 billion acquisition of PeopleSoft. But it was not about the price - Ellison, taught by the bitter experience of unscrupulous workers, left “overboard most of the personnel who worked in the company before he appeared. People went on strike and appealed to the authorities, but the law was on the side of the billionaire.

Larry Ellison today

After leaving the post of CEO of Oracle in 2014, Ellison, however, does not disappear from sight for long. Today he is the chairman of the board of directors, and also works as a director of technology, whose duties 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 at his disposal, this is probably not difficult to do.

Personal life and fortune

Larry Ellison has been married four times and his personal story is as fascinating as his professional one. The first three official wives - Ada Quinn (1967-1974), Nancy Wheeler (1977-1978) and Barbara Booth (1983-1986) all as one claimed that Larry is cheerful, smart, interesting, it is never boring with him, but living 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 novels, mostly with employees of his own company. Here it is impossible not to mention a girl named Adeline, the relationship with which became public. And all due to the fact that Adeline, already during a relationship with Ellis, was fired by one of the leaders. 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 left this case like that - at the end of the litigation, he filed a counterclaim, accusing Adeline of forging evidence.

After additional investigation, the fact of fraud was confirmed, and the girl went to prison for a year. Today, Larry is happily married to Melanie Kraft, a writer who released 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 condition, when he got into Forbes magazine for the first time in 1986, he never left it again. As of 2016, Lawrence Joseph Ellison owns $43.6 billion.

Lawrence Joseph Ellison(English) Lawrence Joseph Ellison, Larry Ellison; genus. August 17, 1944, New York, USA) is an American entrepreneur, co-founder and head of Oracle Corporation, the largest shareholder of NetSuite Inc., an initial investor in Salesforce.com.

Childhood

Born in New York to Florence Spellman Florence Spellman), a 19-year-old unmarried Jewish woman. His father was an American Air Force pilot of Italian origin. The father was transferred abroad to a new duty station even before Spellman realized that she was pregnant. When nine-month-old Larry fell ill with pneumonia, the mother realized that she could not properly care for her child. At the request of his mother, he was placed in the care of his mother's uncle and aunt in Chicago. Lilia Spelman Allison Lillian Spellman Ellison) and Lewis Ellison (ur. Louis Ellison) adopted Larry when he was 9 months old. Ellison did not know the name of his mother and did not meet her for 48 years.

Ellison grew up in Chicago, attended school there, and began studying at the University of Illinois at Urbana and Champaign. Due to the death of his adoptive mother, he did not take exams after the second year of study. After spending a summer in northern California with friend Chuck Weiss, he returned to Chicago and spent a semester at the University of Chicago, where he was introduced to computer science for the first time. In 1964, at the age of 20, he moved to northern California.

Career

In the early 1970s, he worked for Amdahl and Ampex. One of his projects at Ampex was the development of a database for the CIA, which he called "Oracle".

Ellison was greatly influenced by Edgar Codd's article "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks", which is considered the first work on the relational data model. He, along with two colleagues at Ampex, founded the company in 1977 under the name Software Development Laboratories (SDL). In 1979, SDL was renamed Relational Software Inc., and a few years later - in 1982 - 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 it was not possible to ensure the 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 busy releasing new versions of the DBMS. In 1986, Oracle's shares began to be listed on the stock exchange, in three years the company multiplied its sales, which reached $584 million. However, already in 1990, the company ran into difficulties, announcing losses, and was forced to lay off hundreds of its employees.

State

Larry Ellison 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 fortune was estimated at $48 billion. As of September 2012, his fortune is estimated at $44 billion - the third in the USA (after the fortunes of Gates and Buffett).

Lawrence Joseph"Larry"Allison(Eng. Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Ellison) - American entrepreneur, co-founder, chairman of the board of directors and chief technology officer (CTO) of Oracle Corporation, former CEO (CEO) of Oracle (1976-2014), the largest shareholder of NetSuite (acquired by Oracle in 2016 for $9.3 billion), an initial investor in Salesforce.com, a philanthropist.

As of August 2017, with a fortune of $ 60.6 billion, according to Forbes magazine, he ranks fifth in America and seventh in the world among the richest.

Place of Birth. Education. He was 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 origin. The father was transferred abroad to a new duty station even before Spellman realized that she was pregnant. When nine-month-old Larry fell ill with pneumonia, the mother realized that she could not properly care for her child. At the request of his mother, 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 did not know the name of his mother and did not meet her for 48 years.

Ellison grew up in Chicago, attended school there, and began studying at the University of Illinois at Urbana and Champaign. Due to the death of his adoptive mother, he did not take exams after the second year of study. After spending a summer in northern California with friend Chuck Weiss, he returned to Chicago and spent a semester at the University of Chicago, where he was introduced to computer science for the first time. 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 the development of a database for the CIA, which he called the Oracle.

Ellison was greatly influenced by Edgar Codd's article "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks", which is considered the first work on the relational data model. He co-founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL) in 1977 with two Ampex colleagues. In 1979, SDL was renamed Relational Software Inc., and a few years later - in 1982 - 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 it was not possible to ensure the 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 busy releasing new versions of the DBMS. In 1986, Oracle's shares began to be listed on the stock exchange, in three years the company multiplied its sales, which reached $584 million. However, already in 1990, the company ran into 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 position for almost 38 years - since the founding of the corporation, but he remained Chairman of the Board of Directors and took over as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Oracle Corporation. In this post, he will remain in charge of managing the development of software and hardware at 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 first appeared in Forbes magazine in 1986, when his fortune was estimated at $185 million. During the peak of the value of technology companies before the dot-com crash in 2000, his fortune was estimated at $48 billion.

As of September 2012, the state was estimated at $ 44 billion - the third in the United States (after states and).

As of February 2016, the fortune is estimated at $43.6 billion (7th place in the world).

As of August 2017, with a fortune of $ 60.6 billion, according to Forbes magazine, he ranks fifth in America and seventh in the world.

In 2019, the fortune was estimated at $ 62.5 billion, which ensured the 7th place in the ranking of the richest people in the world according to Forbes.

Philanthropist. In August 2010, it was reported that Ellison was one of 40 billionaires who had signed "The Giving Pledge" (a campaign to encourage rich people to donate most of their wealth to charity). Alison wrote: “Many years ago, I placed virtually all of my assets in trust with the intention of giving at least 95% of my wealth to charitable causes. I have already given hundreds of millions of dollars to medical research and education, and over time I will be giving away billions. Until now, I have done it quietly, because I have long believed that charitable giving is a personal and private matter."

In 1998, the Lawrence J. Ellison Outpatient 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 build and run a national identity database and issuance of identification cards.

In May 2016, Ellison donated $200 million to the University of Southern California to establish a center for cancer research: the USC Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine.

A family. Ellison was married 4 times: from 1967-1974 - Ada Quinn (Ada Quinn), from 1977-1978 - Nancy Wheeler (Nancy Wheeler), from 1983-1986 - Barbara Booth (Barbara Boothe), from 2003-2010 - Melanie Kraft. Married to Barbara Booth, two children were born - David Ellison and Megan Ellison.

He is called an extravagant person, an actor, a despot. Loud characteristics fully reflect the explosive temperament, business style and personal life of Lawrence Joseph Ellison. The founder of Oracle Corporation is known for loud statements that often border on outrageous. All this does not prevent Lawrence, better known as Larry, to run a talented business, occupying a leading position in the software industry. At the same time, the start of the life path of one of the billionaires of our time did not at all portend great achievements and high positions in the Forbes ranking. Photo: Oracle PR

Dreamer, loser, rebel

When Lawrence was born (it happened on August 17, 1944 in New York), his mother Florence Spelman was 19. An emigrant from Odessa did not want to spend her youth raising her son, preferring to spend time in nightclubs. According to other sources, Miss Spelman lacked not so much a maternal instinct as a means of subsistence. One way or another, when by the age of 9 months the baby caught pneumonia, Florence gave him to be raised by her uncle and aunt. The boy's new parents, Louis (Lewis) and Lillian, lived in Chicago.

Adoptive father Larry was a native of the Crimea, a Jew by origin. To hide this, during the emigration, he changed his surname Goldman to the American Allison. 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, poor grades at school. The boy often heard that he was worthless, stupid, would never achieve anything. Tears were the answer to the humiliation, but the boy continued to rebel, to be insolent, to conflict.

Interesting fact. Lawrence's biological father was a pilot in the US Armed Forces, an Italian by nationality. Probably, it is to him that the extravagant billionaire owes his interesting appearance and explosive temperament.

The guy achieved more or less significant success in the sports line, played hockey, squash, volleyball. Once the school team lost through his fault, they wrote about it in the local newspaper. Louis Ellison cut out the note and never missed a chance to show it to his adopted son, calling him a loser again. Insults, nit-picking, losses - all this shaped the character of the future businessman, brought the time of his triumph closer.

It was impossible to force Lawrence to learn the school curriculum. A smart guy was drawn to knowledge, but only to those that he chose himself. He was interested in spaceships, black holes, the arrangement of human genes. Larry had good mathematical abilities, and soon discovered the talent of a programmer. The student 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 that, the teenager began to imagine that his real father is the owner of a large fortune, and the same fate is in store for him. Classmates wondered, listening to the fables of Larry, who knew how and loved to fantasize. Even then, Lawrence showed an innate gift of persuasion, which was revealed over the years.

In search of myself

After school, Larry Ellison entered the University of Illinois. Studying here was easy and interesting. When the guy was in his second year, grief befell the family: Lillian died. Lawrence left the educational institution, began to interrupt by part-time jobs.

A year later, he again became a student, this time at the University of Chicago. Here, the future billionaire mastered computer science, but studied for only a semester. It turned out that interest in learning faded. He was expelled for absenteeism, poor academic performance. The guy understood: theory and practice are different things, and a good education, although it is an advantage, still does not guarantee success in business.

20-year-old Lawrence went to sunny California. Using all his knowledge of computers, he again began to write programs to order. The work brought good money, but they were only enough for rent and food. Larry did not know how to accumulate savings at all, lowering them in a short time. The young man was a regular in 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 this.

The main business of life

To achieve the dream of a solid capital, self-confidence alone was not enough. Lawrence constantly calculated schemes, ways to become a wealthy businessman. Once he got lucky. It happened in the early 1970s, when Ellison was working for a small firm called Amtex. By that time, the self-taught programmer already knew how to develop powerful databases that calculate various options. One such system, called the Oracle, Larry created for the CIA and the US Air Force.

The almost ideal mechanism was able to process a large number of requests and was easy to use. A brilliant invention turned out to be too good to be just another database. Realizing this, Lawrence created his own company (1977), which he first called SDL, and later renamed Oracle. As partners, he took Bob Miner and Ed Oates, colleagues from Amtex.

Larry made a significant breakthrough in the computer industry. His Oracle program stored everything from client lists to legal records. Software buyers needed training, and IT consulting was born. Lawrence used his gift of persuasion to the fullest. He assured clients that the Oracle, like a real seer, does incredible things. For example, it can determine where to buy the best beer in New York.

At first, the company employed 8 people, the annual profit did not exceed $ 1 million. But soon the company's revenues went up sharply: the talented Larry came up with an operating system compatible with IBM. The lucky businessman was able to see the potential in the SQL query language in time.

Interesting fact. Thanks to the rapid development of the business, already in 1986, Ellison first got on the Forbes list. Then the personal capital was equal to 185 million dollars, and the estimated value of the company was 31.5 million.

Incomes grew annually, but soon after a meteoric rise, a serious crisis set in. In 1990, the cost of Oracle was reduced by 80%. The company was on the brink of bankruptcy, Ellison acknowledged. Many clients began to cooperate with the main competitor - Bill Gates. Larry's firm was accused of almost all mortal sins: cheating customers, fraud, hiding profits, incorrect accounting.

In one quarter, the company lost 36 million dollars, the value of the shares decreased by 5 times. The personal losses of the founder of Oracle were no less impressive: minus 800 million out of 954. The situation was aggravated by lawsuits and Ellison's heavy debt load. With borrowed money, the head of the corporation bought yachts, cars, houses.

Giving up meant losing, but Larry couldn't afford it. The head dismissed most of the managers, recruited experienced professionals in their places. He himself decided to focus on improving the software. The strategy paid off 100%. By 1991, Oracle's profit was $1 billion. After 3 years, the amount has 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 People Soft, 2 years later he bought BEA. Thus, Larry sought to get rid of competitors. As a result of the transactions, many employees of firms were unemployed, some products began to be released under the Oracle label, and other programs disappeared altogether. Business cruelty has caused scandals, strikes, high-profile trials that have not changed anything.

Lawrence Ellison openly calls his business strategy, merciless and aggressive, a war in which he is going to win by any means. There are legends about the despotism of a businessman, but Larry is sure 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 places in the Forbes ranking, only Ellison was second only to Bill. In 2017, Larry dropped to 7th place with a net worth of $52.2 billion. But his brainchild, Oracle Corporation, is still the world's second largest software producer.

In 2014, Lawrence, unexpectedly for many, stepped down as the 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 looking into cloud computing in detail. Again, the talented businessman's intuition did not let him down: over the past year, the corporation's shares have increased by 18%. Like many billionaires, Lawrence is involved in charity work, finances medicine and education. A few years ago, he joined the Giving Pledge campaign, promising to donate up to 95% of his capital to philanthropy.

Ellison's personal life is also the subject of active discussion. A successful businessman was married 4 times, the third wife bore him 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 solid capital, Ellison's acquisitions include one of the Hawaiian Islands, several aircraft, 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, thrills. All this echoes the way an entrepreneur conducts business, because sometimes success depends on how quickly the right decision is made. Many criticize Larry Ellison, but this does not diminish his merits. The name of a talented programmer and businessman is forever inscribed in the history of software development.

Lawrence Joseph Ellison(Lawrence Joseph Ellison) is the founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation. Also known as Larry Ellison.

Biography

1944: Mother's son from Odessa

Lawrence Ellison did not have the happiest childhood. Larry Ellison doesn't know his father's name. It is only known for certain that Larry's mother was an unmarried emigrant from Odessa. Shortly after arriving in America, she left him in the care of her uncle and aunt living in New York, and disappeared without a trace.

The name of Larry Ellison comes from the name of Ellis Island - a filtration point for emigrants from Europe.

He was brought up by foster parents, but his mother died when he was not yet 18, and his father was sent to prison. Lawrence had to take care of himself, and after saving up some money, he moved from the Bronx to the more promising Berkeley. Over the next eight years, Ellison worked part-time, until he got a job at Ampex as a programmer. There he developed his first serious program, a large database called Oracle.

1977: Founding of Oracle

In 1977, along with Ampex employee Robert Miner, Lawrence founded Software Development Labs, a company focused primarily on consulting corporate clients.

One day Lawrence came across a document written by an IBM employee describing the concept of the Structured Query Language (SQL). IBM did not see the commercial potential of this technology, but Ellison immediately realized how promising the idea was. Together with Miner, they wrote a database program compatible with mainframes and personal computers. Buyers were found quickly and in honor of the same Lawrence database, they decided to rename the company to Oracle. In 1980, only 7 people worked with Lawrence, and the annual income did not exceed a million dollars. After IBM adapted SQL to its computers, Oracle's revenue doubled every year.

1980s: Ellison set the food trend in Silicon Valley

From an interview given by the head of the restaurant company Bon Appetit Management Company Fedele Baucho (Fedele Bauccio) to Business Insider in early November 2014, it became known how Larry Ellison influenced the food system in Silicon Valley.

Founded in 1987, Bon Appetit is engaged in the construction and maintenance of cafes, restaurants and canteens for corporations and educational institutions. The company is based in Palo Alto near the headquarters of major technology companies such as Google and .

“My office was right next to where the VCs started building their companies,” Baucho recalls.

He met Larry Ellison in the late 80s. He asked the head of Bon Appetit to open an Italian coffee shop Paninoteca with cold and hot sandwiches and sandwiches at the headquarters of Oracle in Redwood Shores.

“Being Italian, I said I could do it. However, we were sure that this diner would not last long,” said Fedele Baucho.

Paninoteca was opened, and then as Oracle began to expand, several other concept coffee shops appeared on campus. Now there is a Japanese noodle restaurant, an Indian cafe and even a small market with Mediterranean food.

Larry Ellison in his youth

Similar ideas were adopted by other companies, which at first used huge canteens, but after the initiative of the head of Oracle, they abandoned them. It became obvious that small specialized cafes are much more preferable, since there you can order food to your taste and sit as you like, Bon Appetit CEO emphasized.

Food outlets deployed by Silicon Valley companies have been described by Fedele Baucho as "a place for chance meetings of ideas," where people interact closely with each other, and innovative thoughts are born during conversations. At the same time, employees do not have to leave their companies in order to eat deliciously.

1991: Oracle on the brink of bankruptcy

In 1990, when the company received the status of a leading software manufacturer, the first failures appeared. Accustomed to steady growth, managers failed to anticipate the consequences of new players entering the market, and for the first time in Oracle's history, its costs exceeded revenues. Things only got worse in 1991. Sales of Oracle fell by 80% and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Lawrence replaced most of the leaders and managers with the best in the business, and it worked. Thanks to a competent marketing policy and the release of new powerful databases, Oracle managed to return to its previous level. Its products were used by banks, airlines, car companies and supermarkets. And with the spread of e-commerce, Oracle's revenues have increased exponentially.

2009: On the 4th place in the list of the richest people of the world from $22 billion

According to Forbes magazine on March 11, 2009, Ellison is in the top three richest people and in fourth place in the global ranking of the rich. His fortune is estimated at $ 22 billion. At this time, he owns a 22.59% stake in Oracle Corporation.

2012

Plans to buy a sports empire

In October, 2012 it became known that the head of Oracle Larry Ellison intends to acquire Anschutz Entertainment Group, owned by billionaire Phil Anschutz. This was reported by Reuters, citing two sources close to the situation. At the same time, Ellison's interest in buying the media group, whose starting price is $10 billion, is "tentative."

Ellison, the third richest person in , has recently made an eccentric purchase, acquiring an island in Hawaii. Buying AEG will allow him to take control of, for example, a National Football League team and move it to Los Angeles.

Auction events for the sale of AEG are just beginning, this week bankers from Blackstone Advisory Partners only sent out the necessary information to potentially interested buyers. An information memorandum containing no financial data was sent to dozens of addresses.

AEG's assets include a stake in the Los Angeles Lakers NBA, the LA Kings hockey team, over 100 entertainment and sports centers around the world, and the AEG Live concert promotion business. Interested parties will be able to submit bids for the AEG auction at the end of October 2012.

Accusations of fraud with the purchase of a subsidiary

In January 2015, Larry Ellison's stake in Oracle's equity was 25%.

2016

Wealth $51.7 billion

Wealth $48.5 billion

2017

Wealth $59.1 billion, No. 7 in the world

By October 8, 2017, Ellison's fortune reached $59.1 billion, which allowed the businessman to take the seventh place in the ranking of the richest people in the world.

Halving payments at the request of shareholders

In October 2017, it became known about a two-fold reduction in payments to Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who for many years was among the highest paid top managers in the United States. The company has reduced the amount of remuneration under prolonged pressure from shareholders, according to The Financial Times (FT) .

From documents provided by Oracle to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at the end of September 2017, it follows that in the next five years, Ellison is entitled to a share option in the amount of $103.7 million, or $20.7 million per year. This is 47% less than the previous share awards and corresponds to a 50% reduction in total payments to the former CEO.

The compensation package of Larry Ellison who by October, 2017 holds a post of the technical director of Oracle, includes $17.5 million of options, however Oracle did not explain how this amount is generated. The FT notes that the final share payout could be substantially increased if the company meets the targets set out in the compensation plan.

Oracle has not guaranteed that Ellison and other high-ranking employees will not receive more securities payments within five years, although the company says it "does not expect" any additional grants.

According to the publication, there is a risk that within five years Allison will lose all remuneration, except for a symbolic salary of $ 1 per year, if the company does not reach the target financial indicators and quotes. The goals include increasing the share price to $80 (up 64% from the level of October 6, 2017) and increasing the revenue and profitability of the cloud business to certain levels. This extends not only to Ellison, but to all senior management.

Thus, this can be seen as a victory for the largest institutional investors, who for many years criticized the inflated directors' earnings.

U.S. public companies are required to submit their executive compensation policy to a mandatory shareholder vote and submit executive earnings reports (say-on-pay) for "recommendatory" approval, but there are no legal obligations to do so. For five years in a row, Oracle shareholders disapproved of executive compensation, but until 2017, the company only cut payouts slightly and added new tasks to the salary system.

According to Kirk Hanson, director of the Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, payouts for three top Oracle executives have been very high in recent years. While the say-on-pay vote has been effective in drawing attention to inflated salaries, it's too early to tell how Oracle's new financial arrangements will work in practice, he warns.

Oracle says in SEC filings that dissatisfaction with management compensation was a major topic in shareholder meetings with independent directors, but the issue has received "positive feedback" under the new agreements.

Shareholder dissatisfaction grew substantially after Oracle paid Larry Ellison about $94.6 million in 2012. Then Ellison took first place among the highest paid directors in American companies and had earned by that time about $ 650 million in ten years.

The SEC ordered Tesla to invite two new independent directors after a scandal when founder and CEO Elon Musk tweeted about Tesla's possible delisting and turning it into a private company. The Securities and Exchange Commission reviewed this claim and announced that Musk misled Tesla investors. As a result, Elon Musk was also forced to leave the post of head of the board of directors of Tesla, and this place was taken by Robin Denholm, formerly one of the directors of the board. At the same time, Musk remained the CEO of the company.

As of the end of 2018, Tesla's board of directors has 11 members, including 3 women. In the fall of 2018, California introduced a requirement for publicly traded companies to have women on their boards of directors, becoming the first US state to do so.

Owning a 1.75% stake in Tesla worth $1 billion

In January 2019, the size of Larry Ellison's stake in the share capital of Tesla Motors became known. According to documents released by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the founder of Oracle owns 3 million shares of the American electric vehicle manufacturer, which corresponds to a 1.75 percent stake. By January 8, 2019, the value of this package is estimated at more than $1 billion.

Thus, Ellison is the second largest individual investor in Tesla. In first place is the founder and CEO of the company Elon Musk, who owns approximately 20% of Tesla shares.

According to Bloomberg, Larry Ellison owns Tesla shares not directly, but through the Lawrence J. Ellison Revocable Trust.

Earlier, Ellison said that the purchase of Tesla shares was the second largest investment for the businessman. He also called Elon Musk his "close friend", Fortune reports.

By the close of the stock exchange on January 8, 2019, the value of Tesla shares rose by 0.12% and amounted to $335.35, and the company's market capitalization reached almost $58 billion. At what price Larry Ellison bought Tesla securities is unknown.

In October 2018, Tesla shares traded near a 52-week low at about $250. Quotes collapsed after the announcement of Elon Musk to buy back shares of the company at a price of $420 per share using borrowed funds. The entrepreneur said that he had found creditors for privatization, but in fact he did not even negotiate with potential investors.

Assuming that Ellison purchased Oracle shares for $250, he would have earned about $250,000 by January 8, 2019. As of this date, Larry Ellison is ranked seventh on the list of the richest people on the planet with a fortune of $51 billion.

2020: Larry Ellison decided to raise money in support of Trump

In mid-February 2020, Oracle co-founder and executive chairman Larry Ellison decided to raise money to support President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, but more than 2,300 company employees signed a petition against the fundraiser.

Over the past few years, employees at Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce have spoken out against corporate practices they couldn't agree with. now Oracle, known as a supplier of IT technologies to the US government, has joined this list. Employees who signed the petition are demanding that Ellison cancel an already scheduled fundraising event for President Trump's re-election campaign. They argue that Trump's behavior is not in line with Oracle's values, one of which is anti-corruption and anti-bribery. At the same time, the authors of the petition refer to Trump's impeachment in December 2019.

Oracle declined to comment. It is known that the first major contracts for the provision of software for Oracle databases concluded with the CIA. Former head of the division, Leon Panetta, has served on Oracle's board of directors since 2015, and in 2016, Oracle CEO Safra Katz joined President Trump's team. In addition, Oracle has signed a major contract with the Pentagon to implement cloud services.

Real estate

For 2012, in addition to the island of Lanai, Ellison has other real estate investments: he owns properties in San Francisco, Lake Tahoe and southern California, as well as in Newport, Rhode Island, and Japan. In an interview with CNBC, he noted that he intends to turn a number of his mansions into art museums. He also said that he has an interest in unusual houses, as he dreamed of being an architect as a child.

2012: Purchase of an island in the Hawaiian archipelago

Upon completion of the transaction, Ellison will receive 88 thousand acres of island land, which before the transaction belonged to another billionaire, David Murdoch. This was stated by Hawaii's Public Utilities Commission.

The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of twenty-four islands and atolls located in the North Pacific Ocean (between 19° and 29° north latitude).

Lanai is the sixth largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. Also known as "Pineapple Island" because of the pineapple plantation that occupied most of the island in the past. The only settlement is the small settlement of Lanai City. The island is comma-shaped and 30 km long in its longest direction. The area of ​​the island is 364 km², it is the 42nd largest island.

Lanai are advertised as the most attractive among the Hawaiian Islands. It is known that there is not a single traffic light on the island, but the lack of transport infrastructure is considered to be its advantage. The island is home to two Four Seasons hotels and two golf courses, all of which will go to Ellison after the deal.

Son David and daughter Megan

The son of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has reached the pinnacle of his career in Hollywood. David Ellison works for Skydance Productions, while Ellison's own daughter, Megan Ellison, is also in the film industry and works for Annapurna Pictures.

Over the past few years, David has become one of the most influential producers in Hollywood. Neither more nor less, he acted as a producer of the next film series "Star Trek: Retribution", the original name is "Star Trek Into Darkness" (Eng. Star Trek Into Darkness). It is the twelfth feature-length science fiction film set in the world of Star Trek.

Larry Ellison's son David turns out to be a Hollywood producer

The film was officially announced by Paramount Pictures in 2010. In early 2010, Paramount Pictures stated that the film would be released on June 29, 2012. The premiere took place in Sydney on April 23, 2013, and the worldwide release began on May 9, 2013.

He has also financed two more blockbusters due out in the summer of 2013: the original titles "World War Z" (humanity vs. zombies) and "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" (action). Allison Jr. also promised to soon release Mission: Impossible 5 and Top Gun 2 on the screens.

Together with his own sister Megan, David is going to produce "Terminator - 5"

David's sister Megan has also been involved in the production of several films, including "Zero Dark Thirty" and the new Spike Jonze film "Her", she is working with David on "True Grit," and together they are going to have a hand in exit "Terminator" (Terminator 5).

Daughter's property

In November 2013, it became known that Megan Ellison, film producer and daughter of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, quietly sold three villas in a prestigious area of ​​Los Angeles, blogger The Real Estalker reports.

Ellison, the 27-year-old heiress of millions, purchased these homes between 2008 and 2011 for a total of $33 million. The girl's net income from the sale of real estate was $14.5 million.

Houses on the same street at 9262 and 9280 (pictured) sold for $26.25 million

Panoramic view from one of the villas

The most scandalous quotes

Larry Ellison - one of the most outrageous top managers in the IT industry, second only to Steve Jobs - during his tenure at the helm of Oracle Corporation (since 1977), he uttered many phrases that then went down in history. He especially did not spare his competitors, not bothering himself in choosing politically correct epithets. Below are Ellison's most scandalous and memorable quotes, which, however, he never refused.

• 2007, about Leo Apotheker: “Oracle filed a lawsuit against SAP in 2007, accusing it of illegally downloading Oracle software. The former head of SAP Leo Apotheker at that time was already at the helm of HP. We subpoenaed him in the SAP case, but the HP board of directors sent him to Bolivia to negotiate with customers. Then he was sent to negotiate in Mongolia, just out of the reach of the federal subpoena ... later the council realized that they should have left Leo in Mongolia at all.

• 2008, on cloud computing: “An interesting note about cloud computing is that we're reinventing cloud computing: we've done it all before… The computer industry is even more trend-driven than women's fashion. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I don't understand what cloud computing is all about. What's this? This is complete nonsense. This is madness. When will this insanity stop?"

• 2008, about cloud computing: “We are preparing announcements of new cloud solutions, because, you know, if orange is the new pink, then we will be sewing orange blouses. I mean, I'm not going to fight it…"

• 2010, about Mark Heard: At the time of Mark Heard's difficulties as CEO of HP, which ended in his dismissal, Ellison was very supportive of his friend. He sent a letter to The New York Times regarding his dismissal with the following comments: “Are you going to change Mark Heard for Leo? This is the best idea since Apple's board of directors fired Steve Jobs. Just brilliant." Ellison then hired Heard as president of the corporation.

• 2011, about Steve Jobs (after death): “Trying to become like Steve Jobs is like saying, “I want to become like Picasso. What should I do? Maybe use more red?

• 2012, about cloud computing: “I was at the origin of NetSuite, NetSuite was my idea. I called Evan Goldberg and said, "We're going to deliver ERP over the web, software as a service." Six months later, Marc Benioff figured out what NetSuite was planning and copied it completely."

• 2012, on the purchase of Lanai: "It will be, if you like, a small laboratory of business sustainability on a small scale example."

• 2012, about SAP competitors: “When SAP, and especially Hasso Plattner, talk about how they are going to build an in-memory database and compete with Oracle, I say: “God, give me the contacts of their pharmacist, they must be under drugs."

• 2012, on investments: Allison is a big philanthropist, especially when it comes to investing in medical programs and anti-ageing research. He also took part in the creation of NetSuite and Salesforce.com years ago, but the latter has become a serious competitor to Oracle. Ellison said: "I will never again participate in any startups in my life." However, he recently invested in another startup for computerized drug detection.