10:20 AM
Oracle Leader Ellison Is Not 'Stepping Down'
Oracle on Thursday announced that company co-founder Larry Ellison is giving up the CEO title and has been named executive chairman and chief technology officer (CTO) while Safra Catz and Mark Hurd have been promoted from co-presidents to co-CEOs.
Early accounts hailed the news as "the end of an era," but all three executives quickly clarified, during an earnings conference call after Thursday's stock market close, that their roles and responsibilities will remain the same.
"I want to make sure we are very clear," said co-CEO Safra Catz, when asked how the title changes might cascade down through the ranks. "There will actually be no changes whatsoever."
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Catz will stop using the CFO title, she said, but no new CFO will be hired, and she will remain the principle financial officer overseeing manufacturing, finance, and legal functions. And Mark Hurd, who said he won't be appointing or promoting any new executives beneath him, will continue overseeing all sales, service, and vertical industry global business units.
"We're pretty flat in terms of the way we run this place, and we want to keep it that way," Hurd said. "I want to stay closer to the action, not get farther away."
The only reporting change will be that Catz and Hurd will now report to the board -- of which Ellison is now the executive chairman -- rather than reporting directly to Ellison. Jeff Henley, who has served as Oracle's chairman for the last 10 years, was named Oracle's vice chairman.
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Doug Henschen is Executive Editor of InformationWeek, where he covers the intersection of enterprise applications with information management, business intelligence, big data and analytics. He previously served as editor in chief of Intelligent Enterprise, editor in chief of ... View Full Bio