Larry Ellison Steps Back From Oracle Limelight in AI Era

Oracle Corp. earnings calls this year have been missing a familiar voice: Larry Ellison’s.

The company’s co-founder has been its public face since Oracle’s founding, even after giving up the formal chief executive officer title in 2014. He was consistently a prominent speaker on quarterly calls with analysts about the software maker’s results, with a few exceptions, such as in September 2013, when he was absent for an America’s Cup yacht race.

Ellison’s omnipresence on these calls changed this year after Oracle named two new co-chief executive officers, Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia, as part of its pivot to focus on cloud infrastructure. For its annual user conference next month, Oracle is promoting the keynotes of its co-CEOs without a mention of Ellison.

Still, Ellison and the company will always be inseparable. In the first episode of its new show profiling iconic figures, Prolific, Bloomberg Originals explores Ellison’s life, career and enduring influence.

The video traces his path from an adopted child in Chicago to one of the world’s most powerful and wealthy figures. It highlights his driving determination to succeed, often characterized by a ruthless, hypercompetitive nature.

“It’s not enough that I win — everybody else has to lose” is a saying often associated with Genghis Khan, but it’s often attributed to Ellison due to his tendency to repeat the refrain.

That competitive streak defined Oracle’s rise. The documentary revisits Ellison’s feud with Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and his ruthless run of acquisitions. Tom Siebel, who built a rival software company after leaving Oracle, recalled Ellison sending ice cream trucks to his company’s parking lot to recruit employees before Oracle ultimately acquired the business.

Today, Oracle is betting on AI, leveraging its profitable software business to build massive data centers for customers like OpenAI. Even if Ellison is giving up some of the company limelight, his roles as board chairman and chief technology officer — along with personal ownership of about 40% of Oracle’s stock — continue to give him significant influence over the company’s future.