 Company: Oracle, Redwood Shores, CA
Company Description: Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world's largest business software company. For more information about Oracle, please visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com.
Nomination Category: Management Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Executive of the Year - Computer Software
Nomination Title: Lawrence J. Ellison, Founder and CEO, Oracle
1. Tell the story about what this nominee achieved since January 1 2009 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
Lawrence Ellison helped to facilitate one of the biggest acquisitions of 2009.
On April 20th Oracle signed an agreement to buy Sun Microsystems for upwards of
$7.4 billion. The two companies have worked together for about two decades, but
by merging together they are setting themselves apart from all competitors in
the industry. Two of Sun’s assets, Java and Solaris, are of particular interest
to Oracle. Oracle plans to continue innovating with these two assets and work to
improve their unique parts for the benefit of customers. Ellison noted that
Oracle sets itself apart from all other companies because they are now able to
“engineer an integrated system” so customers don’t have to struggle to match the
software with the computer hardware system. This acquisition helps to drive
costs down while also bringing in more revenue by having the ability to set
themselves apart from all else in the industry.
Lawrence Ellison and Oracle announced major improvements to their Oracle Beehive
system in May. This new Beehive corporate collaboration system has added video
conferencing, email, team workspaces, and additional security. Companies using
the Beehive are able to communicate smoothly with this new system, not to
mention they can increase productivity with lower costs and better management.
Most systems are very costly to bring all parts together, but the new Beehive
system eliminates most additional costs, which makes it the best on the market.
Companies are able to personally set up the system to share and manage
information to be as efficient as possible.
Late in September Lawrence Ellison and Oracle acquired HyperRoll, a company that
works to speed up and improve the reporting of financial data. This is a major
acquisition for Oracle because it helps customers organize and close their
financials much faster. Oracle’s Enterprise Performance Management department is
most affected by this because it improves their technology and builds upon their
already effective solutions in financial reporting. HyperRoll is already a
leader in its industry, which makes this acquisition so beneficial for Oracle.
Lawrence Ellison led Oracle to a financially strong 2009 fiscal year, with a 4%
increase in revenues totaling over $23 billion. Net income also slightly rose 1%
to $5.6 billion even in this tough economy. For the second half of 2009 net
income rose by 9% up to 2.5 billion; this can be attributed to the excitement
over the Sun Microsystems acquisition.
2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/pr/2009-04/sunflash.20090420.1.xml
http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/018467
http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/034753
http://www.oracle.com/corporate/investor_relations/earnings/4q09-pressrelease-june.pdf
http://www.oracle.com/corporate/investor_relations/earnings/2q10-pressrelease-dec.pdf
3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the nominee:
Lawrence J. Ellison co-founded Oracle Corporation in 1977 and subsequently
became CEO. Prior to founding Oracle, Ellison worked for Amdahl Corporation as a
computer programmer. This is where he met his two co-founders and was awarded a
two year contract from the CIA. Before Amdahl he spent eight years in California
moving between jobs, which included Wells Fargo and as a technician for the
Fireman’s Fund. Ellison dropped out of the University of Illinois before
finishing his second year. The next year he enrolled at the University of
Chicago, but also dropped out only a semester later.
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