Oracle has displayed a winning streak during the toughest economy America has seen in 70 years. Oracle has been in the consolidation business for a few years now. The continued execution of that effort over the past year has been remarkable.
You could argue Amazon was another success story of the season in that Amazon was also seen bucking the trend. But those high spirits have not been true for tech companies across the board. So it has not been a tech industry thing. Microsoft was seen engaging in major layoffs like companies facing tough times are wont to do.
Larry Ellison's combination of the visionary and the street fighter was never better at display than during these consolidation fights, the most visible of it was when he gulped down PeopleSoft a few years ago.
Larry Ellison is still very much hungry. His move to buy Sun was very surprising to me. But then is best friend Steve Jobs does both hardware and software, does he not? I think the challenge for Larry is to see if he can offer data centers that are the size of servers.
I watch both Google and Oracle when it comes to the cloud computing space. Larry is on record being skeptical of the very phrase "cloud computing," but it is because he has been doing cloud computing all along. Now they have a term for it.
I think Oracle is well positioned for the impending era. Larry has always wanted to take over Microsoft as the largest software company in the world. I get the impression he has been preparing for that for the last few years in a way he never got to in the 1990s. Now all he needs is a paradigm shift away from the PC.
Larry Ellison
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In The News
Justice Department: Oracle, Sun Not Getting Hitched Just Yet Seeking Alpha
Securities Suit Against Oracle and CEO Ellison Is Dismissed Wall Street Journal
Hard Times Didn't Stop Oracle's Buying Spree New York Times Oracle, the software giant, made no high-profile purchases in fiscal 2009, but it still managed to quietly spend $1.2 billion buying other companies and assets during the period ...... Oracle reduced its number of United States-based employees while bolstering its ranks abroad
Oracle kept buying in the billions during a troubled year MarketWatch continued apace with its broader mission of expanding its offerings well beyond database software through acquisitions........ Oracle spent $9.4 billion on acquisitions in fiscal 2008 .... Oracle's headcount rose by only 1,767, to 86,000 ....... Oracle reported having 28,000 employees in the U.S.
