Silicon Insider: Ellison Beelzebub

Jan. 15 -- Has there ever been a more mercurial, demonic and inexplicably successful figure in high-tech history than Larry Ellison?

He seems like an overgrown adolescent, playing with his MIGs, yet he is the second richest man in America, his wealth self-made. Everyone complains about the quality of Oracle’s products, yet great companies continue to buy them.

His regular new technology announcements — remember the NC? The media server? — inevitably come to nothing … and yet I, like everyone else in tech, listen his latest announcement with the greatest seriousness and argue its merits for months afterwards.

Ellison is also a notoriously callous boss who has created a poisonously competitive environment at Oracle (as the saying goes in Silicon Valley, the first year you work at Oracle you think it’s the greatest job in the world, the second year you wonder what’s wrong with you; and the third year you go into therapy). Yet people fight to get work there.

He is also a notorious rake, with a very public lawsuit in his recent past, and appeared to treat Oracle as his personal harem (his fourth marriage was also announced this week). And yet, a few months ago, I sat at lunch with two of the most powerful women in Silicon Valley and high technology, and listened to them tell me that working for Larry Ellison was the single most exciting experience in their professional careers.

Why? “Because he’s brilliant. Because he takes risks every day. And because nobody on earth knows so much about relational databases — there’s so much you can learn from him.”

“Yeah, but he’s crazy,” I countered.

“Oh sure,” one of the eminent ladies replied, “But that’s part of the excitement too.”

Settling Question of Succession … Or Not

I was reminded of that conversation Monday when I read the announcement that Larry Ellison had stepped down as chairman of Oracle.