Larry Ellison is stepping down as CEO of Oracle. The news rocked the industry last week. When I heard, I was sitting in a meeting and thought to myself: This is where I was when Larry Ellison resigned.
Don’t cry for Ellison; he’s stepping up and over to become executive chairman and CTO. The new co-CEOs, Safra Catz and Mark Hurd, had been co-presidents reporting to Ellison. Now they report directly to the Oracle board, which Ellison oversees. That’s just weird.[ Learn all about the private cloud -- the most important trend in IT -- with InfoWorld's Private Cloud Digital Spotlight. Download it today! | Stay up on the cloud with InfoWorld's Cloud Computing newsletter. ]
Why did Ellison step down? Most observers agree it was time for a change at Oracle, after 37 years with Ellison as CEO. Perhaps the board agreed. It’s no mystery that Oracle has had difficulties with emerging technology, and the company appeared to be stuck in the past. Cloud computing seems to be one of those emerging technologies Oracle has struggled to understand and accept -- Ellison long pooh-poohed the notion, and his company's eventual "adoption" seemed more lip service than true embrace.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here