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The move closely mirrors the decision 14 years ago by Bill Gates, long Mr Ellison’s arch nemesis in the software world, to hand over the reins at Microsoft while keeping control of its technical direction and taking charge in the boardroom.
Oracle, whose stock market value of $182bn puts it second only to Microsoft, will be run instead by joint chief executives, an arrangement that remains extremely rare in corporate America.
The leadership reshuffle comes as Oracle faces a seismic shift in business software markets as its customers shift to cloud computing. Some analysts immediately questioned the new arrangement, which cements Mr Ellison’s influence over the company’s technology strategy, even though he moved more slowly than some rivals in the shift to the cloud, hitting Oracle’s growth.
In a sign of the race under way to remake the biggest business software companies, German software company SAP also on Thursday announced a deal to buy Concur, an expenses management company that has shifted its own business to the cloud, for $8.3bn
The news came as Oracle reported quarterly results that fell short of analysts’ estimates. Its stock price slipped 2 per cent in after-market trading as it reported revenues of $8.6bn, up 3 per cent, with pro forma earnings per share of 62 cents, up from 59 cents a year before.
The new joint chief executives will be Mark Hurd, who was chief executive of Hewlett-Packard until he was forced out four years ago after an investigation into sexual harassment, and Safra Catz, a former investment banker and long-time Ellison dealmaker and lieutenant.
“It’s the same people, nothing’s really changed – that’s not a good thing,” said John Rymer, an analyst at Forrester Research. “Quarter after quarter are quarter they continue to slide, they’re not making the transition quickly.”
甲骨文公司(Oracle)共同创始人、高科技行业第二大富豪拉里•埃里森(Larry Ellison)已从这家美国数据库软件公司的首席执行官一职上退下，他将担任公司董事长和首席技术官的新职务。
此举与14年前比尔•盖茨(Bill Gates)所做决定十分类似。长期以来，盖茨一直是埃里森的死对头，他在14年前交出了微软的帅印，继续控制着微软的技术方向，并掌管董事会。
甲骨文公司的市值为1820亿美元，在软件企业中仅次于微软(Microsoft)。埃里森退出后，该公司将交由多名首席执行官联合运营，这种体制在美国企业中极为罕见。
在甲骨文领导层这次洗牌之际，随着该公司客户纷纷转向云计算，甲骨文正面临商业软件市场的一次大地震。消息传来，部分分析师立刻对这一新的人事安排提出了质疑。他们认为，埃里森在转向云计算的过程中被部分竞争对手抢先一步，从而对甲骨文公司的成长造成了伤害，而这一人事安排却强化了埃里森对甲骨文公司技术战略的影响力。
新的联合首席执行官将由马克•赫德(Mark Hurd)和萨夫拉•卡兹(Safra Catz)担任。赫德曾任惠普(Hewlett-Packard)首席执行官，四年前他曾在遭遇性骚扰调查后被迫辞去惠普首席执行官一职。卡兹曾是一位投资银行家，他曾长期担任埃里森的交易商和副手。
在上世纪八九十年代脱颖而出的那批高科技企业中，埃里森是仍在掌权的最后几个创业者之一。那批高科技企业的崛起，是借助了互联网兴起之前出现的客户端-服务器技术潮流。在埃里森的同一代创业者中，盖茨于2008年退出了微软管理岗位，而埃里森的朋友和邻居史蒂夫•乔布斯(Steve Jobs)则在三年前病逝。
据《福布斯》(Forbes)估计，埃里森个人财富为513亿美元，相比之下盖茨个人财富为813亿美元。埃里森多数财富都与甲骨文公司有关，他持有该公司四分之一的股份。
