Biography of Larry Ellison. The story of Oracle: how Larry Ellison built one of the largest IT corporations in the world, bullying everyone around him
Larry Ellison is an American entrepreneur, talented software developer, co-founder of Oracle, the world's largest software company after Microsoft. Sailing enthusiast. In 2014, he resigned as CEO of Oracle, but remained chairman of the board of directors and director of technology development. In 2017 it is in 7th place richest people world, according to Forbes magazine, has a fortune of 52.2 billion dollars.
For reference:
- Full name: Lawrence Joseph Ellison
- Was born: in 1944 on August 17 in the Bronx (New York, USA)
- Education: University of Illinois, University of Chicago (both did not graduate)
- Start entrepreneurial activity: 1977
- Type of activity at start: software company Software Development Laboratories (SDL)
- What he is doing now: Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director of Technology Development at Oracle
- State:$52.5 billion in 2017 according to Forbes magazine
Larry Ellison - American billionaire, founder of Oracle - the world's largest after Microsoft companies for software production. Business is not his only passion.
The billionaire is not shy about leading a “star” lifestyle: he collects luxury real estate, yachts, planes, sports cars, dresses in fashionable brand clothes, and is interested in Japanese culture.
How the son of an unmarried 19-year-old Jewish woman (an emigrant from Odessa), who could not even cure him of pneumonia and gave him up to be raised by her uncle and aunt, was able to reach such heights, we will tell in the article.
Larry Ellison's childhood and youth
Rice. 1. Larry Ellison as a child
The mother of the future billionaire gave birth to him in New York, in the Bronx on August 17, 1944. When the boy was 9 months old, he fell ill with pneumonia. The young mother realized that she could not cope with the illness and the further maintenance and upbringing of her son. She gave him to be raised by her aunt and uncle, Lillian and Louis Ellison, who lived in a poor area of Chicago. They were Jewish by nationality, and took the surname Ellison to hide their origin.
Larry lived in the same area throughout his childhood with his adoptive parents and attended school. In 1962 he entered the University of Illinois. However, I didn’t study there even for two years full years. Died him foster mother, and Larry, becoming depressed, dropped out of school. The next step was to study at the University of Chicago, where he became acquainted with computer technology, but studied for only a few months.
Fig.2. Young Larry Ellison during his time at Ampex, 1970.
Source: successstory.com
At the age of 22, Ellison moved to live in northern California, working as a programmer in various companies. This did not bring him much income, but it allowed him to do what he loved and gain experience in programming. In 1970, he was lucky enough to get a job at Ampex Corporation, where he took part in the development of the first IBM-compatible server system.
Birth of the "Oracle"
In 1977, Larry founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL) with his friends and colleagues: Bob Miner and Ed Watts. The initial investment in creating a new company was about 2 thousand US dollars. The press writes that the impetus for Larry to create his own company was an article he read by Edgar Codd, the creator of the relational data model. This article talked about the possibilities of creating such databases that can run on any computer running the SQL query language.
In those years, business needed information processing technology, which became more and more abundant. Databases existed, but they were developed for each computer. That is, each database could only work on the computer for which it was created.
The success story of Oracle Corporation began with the fact that young entrepreneurs led by Larry Ellison sensitively grasped this market need and relied on database management systems (DBMS) and microcomputers. Ellison's distinctive strategy was the development of universal databases that can work on any computer with any amount of information: be it banks, factories, government procurement, space research or any other.
The young company received an order from the CIA to create one of these databases. Ellison called this development Oracle (Oracle). And in 1982, he renamed his company (at that time it was called Relational Software Inc.) and named it the same as the database developed, but never developed, for the CIA. This is how the legendary Oracle Corporation appeared.
Quote from Larry Ellison: "When people start telling you that you're crazy, you may be on the biggest innovation of your life."
Read the story of another innovative entrepreneur: Elon Musk is an inventor, businessman and a person who changes lives for the better.
Oracle Corporation Business Milestones
The first version of the DBMS was called Oracle v2. This was a clever marketing move. It was aimed at creating potential clients the feeling that the company is not releasing its first product and is not a newcomer to the market. Although in reality this was exactly the case. However, this move was a success. The first customer was the American Wright-Paterson Air Force Base.
In 1983-1985, the third, fourth and fifth improved versions were released.
In 1986, Oracle went public (IPO) on the NASDAQ exchange, and the name of its founder first appeared in Forbes magazine. Ellison's fortune was then estimated at $185 million. In the same year, the name of another, at that time millionaire, appeared on the list - Bill Gates, however, with a more impressive amount - $315 million. From that moment their rivalry began.
Larry has always strived and strives to overtake his competitor, and he succeeded: in 2000, he was able to increase his fortune by 3.9 billion dollars, it amounted to 48 billion, while Bill Geist lost 10 billion dollars due to legal process in antimonopoly cases.
Ellison and Gates are called complete antipodes, despite similar businesses: Gates an exemplary family man and the ascetic, Ellison, changes wives and does not hesitate to use all the attributes of life available to billionaires. He once even flew his fighter jet over Bill Gates' mansion.
On the verge of a foul
1990 became a crisis year for the company. It has lost almost 80% of its value. Ellison had to decide extreme measures: He fired more than 400 employees, including top managers and those who had worked in the company for the past more than 10 years.
He explained such harsh measures by the fact that Oracle was the fastest growing company in the software industry, it reached billions in revenue, but faced management problems that led it to the brink of ruin. Ellison believed that the company had outgrown the people who ran it; they remained at the level when Oracle was worth $15 million. They turned out to be unable to manage the billion-dollar giant.
The company was able to return to growth. And since then, Larry Ellison’s principle in business has been the postulate: “Business more important than people».
For the period from 1999 to 2009, Larry Ellison received the status of the highest paid top manager of the decade in the United States according to the American daily business newspaper The Wall Street Journal.
Almost every year until 2010, Oracle released new versions of software and expanded the range of its influence in the computer industry market.
In 2010, the company merged with Sun Microsystems, a major software manufacturer, through an acquisition. In total, from 2005 to 2016, Oracle spent more than $60 billion on acquisitions of other companies.
In 2014, Larry Ellison left the post of CEO of Oracle, but remained chairman of the board of directors and executive director of technology development.
Fun fact: One of the biographies of Larry Ellison is published under the title "The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison." The answer to this question is simple: “God doesn’t think he’s Larry Ellison.”
Hobbies and personal life
He is passionately in love with sailing and participates in risky competitions - sailing regattas. Loves speed and seeks thrills. He turns his performances and presentations into real acting shows and has powerful charisma.
He is involved in charity work and sponsors sailing competitions in the USA. He is called the rock star of Silicon Valley. In 2012, allegedly for $300 million (some sources indicate the amount is $600 million), he purchased the Hawaiian island of Lanai. He also owns more than 20 luxury mansions and villas in Malibu. His yacht Rising Sun costs $200 million, is 138 meters long and is one of the ten most expensive yachts in the world.
Larry Ellison, like many other famous billionaires, is partial to projects aimed at extending life and studying the aging process. In some of his interviews, Ellison says that he would like to live forever. Since 1997, it has provided more than $430 million in sponsorships to companies researching the aging process.
However, after Larry Page and Sergey Brin launched a new biotechnology company Calico (California Life Company) in 2013 to study the molecular mechanisms of aging, Larry Ellison closed his investment activity in this direction.
Ellison has been married four times and has two children. Currently (August 2017) divorced.
Interesting fact: Larry Ellison's fourth wife Melanie Craft published a book after the wedding - love story about how to marry a billionaire playboy who is three times divorced.
Books about Larry Ellison: “How God is Different from Larry Ellison” by Mike Wilson; "Everyone Around Should Go Broke: The Unvarnished Truth About Oracle Corporation and Its Leader Larry Ellison" by Karen Southwick.
Watch the video: The island of billionaire Larry Ellison, where the TV series Lost was filmed.
He is called an extravagant person, an actor, a despot. The high-profile characteristics fully reflect the explosive temperament, business style and personal life of Lawrence Joseph Ellison. The founder of Oracle Corporation is known for his loud statements, which often border on shocking. None of this stops Lawrence, better known as Larry, from being a talented business leader in the software industry. At the same time, start life path One of the billionaires of our time did not at all foretell great achievements and high positions in the Forbes ranking. Photo: Oracle PR
Dreamer, loser, rebel
When Lawrence was born (this happened on August 17, 1944 in New York), his mother Florence Spelman was 19. An emigrant from Odessa did not want to waste her youth raising her son, preferring to spend time in nightclubs. According to other sources, Miss Spelman was absent not so much maternal instinct
, how much livelihood. One way or another, when at the age of 9 months the baby contracted pneumonia, Florence gave him up to be raised by her uncle and aunt. The boy's new parents, Louis (Lewis) and Lillian, lived in Chicago. Larry's adoptive father was a native of Crimea, of Jewish origin.
To hide this, during emigration he changed his surname Goldman to the American Allison. The head of the family was a civil servant, then made capital in real estate, but lost everything during the Great Depression. Larry's childhood was not carefree: insults from his father, bad grades at school. The boy often heard that he was worthless, stupid, and would never achieve anything. The response to humiliation was tears, but the boy continued to rebel, defy, and conflict. Interesting fact.
Lawrence's biological father was an Italian pilot in the US Armed Forces. The extravagant billionaire probably owes his interesting appearance and explosive temperament to him. One day the school team lost because of him, and it was written about in the local newspaper. Louis Ellison cut out the note and never missed an opportunity to show it to his adopted son, calling him a loser again. Insults, nagging, losses - all this shaped the character of the future businessman and brought the time of his triumph closer.
Make Lawrence teach school curriculum it was impossible. The intelligent guy was drawn to knowledge, but only that which he chose himself. He was interested spaceships
, black holes, the structure of human genes. Larry had good mathematical abilities, and soon discovered his talent as a programmer. The student began to earn extra money: he wrote programs for which he received high fees, comparable to the salary of a university teacher.
When the boy was 12, he learned about his origin. After this, the teenager began to imagine that his real father was the owner of a large fortune, and the same fate was in store for him.
Classmates were amazed listening to the tales of Larry, who knew how and loved to fantasize. Even then, Lawrence showed an innate gift of persuasion, which revealed itself over the years. Finding myself After school, Larry Ellison entered the University of Illinois. Studying here was easy and interesting. When the guy was in his second year, the family suffered grief: Lillian died. Lawrence threw
educational institution
, began to get by with part-time jobs. A year later he became a student again, this time at the University of Chicago. Here the future billionaire mastered computer science, but only studied for a semester. It turned out that interest in studying had faded. He was expelled for absenteeism and poor academic performance. The guy understood: theory and practice are two different things, and although a good education is an advantage, it still does not guarantee success in business. 20-year-old Lawrence went to sunny California. Using all his knowledge about computers, he again began writing custom programs. The work brought in good money, but it was only enough for rent and food. Larry did not know how to save his savings at all, spending them for a short time. The young man was a regular at a cheap pizzeria and wore the most
simple clothes
To achieve the dream of substantial capital, self-confidence alone was not enough. Lawrence constantly calculated schemes and ways to become a wealthy businessman. One day he got lucky. This happened in the early 1970s, when Ellison was working for a small company called Amtex. By that time, the self-taught programmer already knew how to develop powerful databases that calculate various options. Larry created one of these systems, called Oracle, for the CIA and the US Air Force.
An almost ideal mechanism could handle a large number of queries and was easy to use. The talented invention turned out to be too good to become just another database. Realizing this, Lawrence created his own company (1977), which he first called SDL and later renamed Oracle. He took Bob Miner and Ed Oates, colleagues from Amtex, as partners.
Larry made significant breakthroughs in the computer industry. His Oracle program stored the most various information, from client lists to legal documentation. Software buyers needed training, and IT consulting was born. Lawrence made full use of his gift of persuasion.
He assured clients that the Oracle, like a true visionary, was doing incredible things. For example, it can determine where to buy the best beer in New York.
To hide this, during emigration he changed his surname Goldman to the American Allison. The head of the family was a civil servant, then made capital in real estate, but lost everything during the Great Depression. Larry's childhood was not carefree: insults from his father, bad grades at school. The boy often heard that he was worthless, stupid, and would never achieve anything. The response to humiliation was tears, but the boy continued to rebel, defy, and conflict. At first, the company employed 8 people, and annual profits did not exceed $1 million. But soon the company's income increased sharply: the talented Larry came up with an operating system compatible with IBM. The lucky businessman managed to consider the potential in the SQL query language in time. Thanks to rapid development business already in 1986, Ellison first got into Forbes list
. At the time, his personal net worth was $185 million, and the company's estimated value was $31.5 million.
Revenues grew annually, but soon after the rapid rise a serious crisis occurred. In 1990, Oracle's value dropped by 80%. The company was on the verge of bankruptcy, Ellison admitted this. Many clients began to cooperate with the main competitor - Bill Gates. Larry's company was accused of almost all the mortal sins: deceiving clients, fraud, concealing profits, incorrect accounting. In one quarter, the company lost $36 million, the value of shares decreased by 5 times. Personal losses turned out to be no less impressive: minus 800 million out of 954. The situation was aggravated by lawsuits and Ellison’s large debt load. With borrowed money, the head of the corporation bought yachts, cars, and houses.
Giving up meant losing, but Larry couldn't afford that. The manager fired most of the managers and hired experienced professionals to replace them. I decided to focus on improving the software. The strategy paid off 100%. By 1991, Oracle's profits amounted to $1 billion. After 3 years, the amount doubled.
To hide this, during emigration he changed his surname Goldman to the American Allison. The head of the family was a civil servant, then made capital in real estate, but lost everything during the Great Depression. Larry's childhood was not carefree: insults from his father, bad grades at school. The boy often heard that he was worthless, stupid, and would never achieve anything. The response to humiliation was tears, but the boy continued to rebel, defy, and conflict. The beginning of the 1990s was marked by an important event for Ellison in his personal life. Using the services of private detectives, he found his biological mother and met with her.
Don't stop there
In 2004, an American entrepreneur became the owner of the People Soft company, and 2 years later he bought BEA. Thus, Larry sought to get rid of competitors. As a result of the transactions, many company employees found themselves unemployed, some products began to be released under the Oracle label, and other programs disappeared completely. Business cruelty has caused scandals, strikes, and high-profile proceedings that have changed nothing.
Lawrence Ellison openly calls his business strategy, merciless and aggressive, a war that he intends to win by any means necessary.
The businessman's despotism is legendary, but Larry is confident that the end justifies the means. He hires only the best of the best, the most ambitious, hardworking employees.
For many years in a row, Larry has been striving to get ahead of his main competitor, Bill Gates. In 2009, both billionaires took the highest positions in the Forbes ranking, only Ellison was second after Bill. In 2017, Larry dropped to 7th place with a net worth of $52.2 billion. But his brainchild, Oracle Corporation, is still the second largest software producer in the world. In 2014, Lawrence, unexpectedly for many, resigned from his position as CEO of the company. At the same time, he retained the positions of director of technology development and head of the board of directors. Ellison later announced that Oracle would be involved in cloud technologies in detail. Once again, the talented businessman’s instincts did not let him down: for Last year
Ellison's personal life is also the subject of active discussions. The successful businessman was married 4 times, his third wife gave birth to a son and a daughter. Now Larry is single again, but does not suffer from loneliness. He has everything he dreamed of: a thriving business, money, the favor of women.
Thanks to his solid capital, Ellison's acquisitions include one of the Hawaiian Islands, several airplanes, a Formula 1 car, a yacht, a professional tennis tournament, and a lot of real estate.
The billionaire is fond of extreme sports, loves risk, speed, and thrills. All this has something in common with how an entrepreneur runs a business, because sometimes success depends on how quickly the right decision is made. Many people criticize Larry Ellison, but this does not diminish his merits. The name of a talented programmer and businessman has already been forever inscribed in the history of software development.
Studying the stories of successful entrepreneurs, one cannot help but pay attention to some patterns: all these people are extremely ambitious, strict with themselves and with others, and most importantly, they simply have a brutal instinct and intuition when it comes to money. A striking example of such a person is the head of a corporation. Today he constantly appears on the covers periodicals
and more than once took place in the TOP 10 richest people. They fear him, respect him and take him into account. And it all started so prosaically that Larry could have turned out to be one of the millions of failed dreamers, if not for several fateful decisions.
How it all began Larry Ellison (Lawrence Ellison)
born in New York in 1944. His family can hardly be called not only prosperous, but even statistically average: Larry did not know his father, his mother was a 19-year-old Russian emigrant, who almost immediately after birth gave the child to foster parents to raise.
Constant clashes with his stepfather due to Larry's independent character are one of the main reasons why Larry began to think about the purposelessness of life. According to his stepfather, Larry was a stupid, uninitiated, useless teenager for society who was simply “smoking the sky.” By the way, Ellison really did not achieve any success at school: he did not study well, but not because he was really stupid, but because of a lack of interest in studying. However, after school it was necessary to join adult life
, and an inevitable attribute of such a life is college. In college, Larry also did not show himself, and he was expelled after the first semester. Subsisting on intermittent earnings throughout, Larry decides: this cannot continue, and somehow enters the University of Chicago. But even here he was more engaged in soul-searching, reading literature that interested him and looking for opportunities to earn big money.
Even then he decided for himself: “I will become rich and famous, if only to prove to my stepfather how wrong he was.”
Becoming "Oracle"
By chance, Larry literally stumbled upon that island of activity that really interested him: it was computers and programming. The young student began to read specialized magazines and periodicals, and spent the lion's share of his small earnings on books. And then it turned out that Ellison was not stupid at all: he just couldn’t realize himself before that, and when he found his niche, he became the first in it.
Unlike his peers and friends, he “absorbed” programming knowledge very quickly, and literally within a few months he was already writing quite complex programs. For this software By chance, buyers were found, Larry began to earn money, got a good internship, and eventually decided to move to California, where the prospects were very, very impressive.
In the 70s, a programmer got a job at a small computer company Amtex, and literally from the first days amazed his colleagues and superiors with the statement: “ I'm here for a short time - very soon I will become a millionaire and I won't need to spend time in this office».
Literally a couple of years later, Ellison created his first “brainchild” - it was an incredibly convenient, multifunctional and almost perfect database. Larry patented his development and created his own company " Oracle", which at first consisted of him alone.
However, the development of the company was facilitated by the fact that users not only appreciated new system and were willing to pay decent money for it. Customers needed support and training, and here Larry takes another important step: he begins to provide IT consulting services. 
Of course, the company’s development was not as fast as Larry himself would have liked: by 1980, in “ Oracle“Only eight people worked, who did not always have time to cope with the work. The company's employees had to work from morning to night, as a result, after another year the system Oracle interested in IBM.
A close and fruitful cooperation began, and from that moment on, the company’s business rapidly went up. The company's profits reached new level: in 1981 annual income " Oracle" amounted to almost two million dollars. This made it possible for Ellison to expand the company, increase its staff and leave the office entirely, taking over as CEO. Since then, every seven years the company's profit has grown by geometric progression, but managed to prove to himself and those around him that he was far from useless and stupid.
By the way, in 1992, Larry, having spent a million dollars on the services of private detective agencies, found his real mother and was able to say to her eyes: “ Mom, look: I did it all».
Secrets of success from Larry Ellison
There are many similar stories, and they all have one common feature: the starting and ending point, formation and success are always connected. Another thing is that the paths between these points can be straight and obvious, they can be winding and unclear, or they can be long and difficult, like the one. 
But we must not forget that everyone chooses their own path to success, and Larry Ellison had his own set of laws and rules by which he acted throughout his life.
1. “The road is a spoon for dinner”
Larry clearly understood that the main thing in business is to occupy a certain niche in time. “On time” in this case means “first”. Working with databases in the 80s was quite complex and caused many problems. And most importantly, there were no companies on the market that could offer any alternatives, ways to make work easier, or simply create simple and effective solutions. Larry succeeded.
2. “Never give up”
Not everything and not always in " Oracle" went smoothly. It's about It’s not even about the fact that certain difficulties always arise in young companies. Already in the 90s, when everything seemed to be in order, the business suddenly began to bring in much less profit. It was simply impossible to attribute this to economic difficulties, and Ellison had to deal with the problem personally and literally from the very bottom.
The root of the problem was found quite quickly. Larry simply let everything take its course when there was enough money for pleasures and luxury. As a result, “confusion and vacillation” began in the company, which was left to deputies and department heads. It was necessary to almost completely change the management of the company and carry out a “cleansing” in the accounting sector. As a result, the company Oracle“I was paralyzed for several months, but the situation was eventually corrected.
3. “The strong eat the weak”
Larry always felt great potential in himself, and when the right moment came for self-realization, he did it and hasn’t stopped since. Allison is a very aggressive, tough and purposeful person. He was used to quickly solving any problems, and if he couldn’t do it, he tried again and again. This also affected the company’s internal policy: Larry always forced his subordinates to strive for goals, especially if these were company goals. And for this in the state " Oracle“The best should always work.
True Fact: In the 1980s, Larry personally interviewed candidates for every position at his company. The first question was always: “ Were you the smartest person on the course?" If the candidate answered " Yes“- he was immediately accepted into the staff. If the answer was negative, Larry said: “ Then give me the coordinates of the best thing on your course" and called this person.
4. Innovation
Another important point: whatever successful business, it will not be able to stay afloat if it is not improved and improved in accordance with the realities of life. In addition, " Oracle“Competitors quickly appeared and tried their best to do something new and better.
Today even on the official website “ Oracle“You can see a statement that “the company does not intend to rest on its laurels and we are looking to tomorrow today.”
Lawrence Joseph Ellison(English) Lawrence Joseph Ellison, Larry Ellison; genus. August 17, 1944, New York, USA) is an American entrepreneur, co-founder and head of Oracle Corporation, the largest shareholder of NetSuite Inc., and an initial investor in Salesforce.com.
Childhood
Born in New York to Florence Spellman. Florence Spellman), a 19-year-old unmarried Jewish woman. His father was an American Air Force pilot of Italian descent. Her father was transferred overseas to a new duty station even before Spellman realized she was pregnant. When nine-month-old Larry fell ill with pneumonia, his mother realized that she could not properly care for her child. At his mother's request, he was placed in the care of his mother's uncle and aunt in Chicago. Lilia Spelman Ellison Lillian Spellman Ellison) and Lewis Ellison (eng. Louis Ellison) adopted Larry when he was 9 months old. Ellison didn't know his mother's name and hadn't met her for 48 years.
Ellison grew up in Chicago, attended school there and began his studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Due to the death of his adoptive mother, he did not take exams after the second year of study. After a summer spent in northern California with friend Chuck Weiss, he returned to Chicago and studied for a semester at the University of Chicago, where he was first introduced to computer science. In 1964, at the age of 20, he moved to northern California.
Career
In the early 1970s he worked for Amdahl and Ampex. One of his projects at Ampex was developing a database system for the CIA, which he called "Oracle".
Ellison was greatly influenced by Edgar Codd's paper "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks", which is considered the first work on a relational data model. He, along with two Ampex colleagues, founded the company in 1977 under the name Software Development Laboratories (SDL). In 1979, SDL was renamed Relational Software Inc., and a few years later - in 1982 - into Oracle, after the name of the main product - Oracle Database. Knowing about the existence of the IBM System R DBMS, which was also based on Codd's ideas, Ellison tried to make the Oracle DBMS compatible with it. However, IBM refused to disclose the source code of the program and failed to ensure compatibility of the DBMS. The first version released was the Oracle v2 DBMS in 1979; for marketing reasons, the first version number was not assigned.
In the 1980s, Oracle was releasing new versions of the DBMS. In 1986, Oracle shares began to be listed on the stock exchange, and in three years the company increased its sales tenfold, which reached $584 million. However, already in 1990, the company encountered difficulties, announcing losses, and was forced to lay off hundreds of its employees.
State
Larry Ellison's name first appeared in Forbes magazine in 1986, when his fortune was estimated at $185 million. At the peak of the value of technology companies before the dot-com crash in 2000, his fortune was estimated at $48 billion. As of September 2012, his net worth is estimated at $44 billion - third in the USA (after the fortunes of Gates and Buffett).
Lawrence Joseph Ellison - American businessman who founded the Oracle Corporation, former CEO, the largest shareholder of NetSuite and an early investor in Salesforce.com. Human interesting fate and extraordinary abilities.
The beginning of this man's life did not promise him much success. An eternally dissatisfied father, no special talents, mediocre school performance...
All this foreshadowed Larry Ellison (born in 1944 in New York) the usual dull life of an ordinary person. And only his incredible imagination made Larry stand out among his peers.
A particularly penchant for fantasy began to manifest itself after the boy found out that he was an adopted son. In his dreams, he imagined himself as the heir to a large fortune, and, as an adult, he continued to tell tales about his father’s money and his own higher education which he didn't have.
But quite unexpectedly, Larry showed a talent for programming. The guy quickly realized this and mastered new and incomprehensible knowledge for most.
He learned to write programs, and then sold them and received good money. However, Ellison did not know how to save banknotes; they disappeared quite quickly. However, young man This did not upset him at all, he believed that he would be rich and successful.
In the 70s, Larry found his gold mine- decided to create and sell unique databases that were capable of reading the most incredible options. It was then that the Oracle program was created.
Ellison knew how to use his gift of persuasion and rich imagination well. He assured customers that the program was capable of processing a lot of data and producing accurate results. For example, she can answer the question: where can you buy the freshest beer in New York?
Larry convinced that his product was suitable for both large computers and minicomputers. Naturally, the programmers who worked with him did not have time to realize all his fantasies and promises.
Therefore, customers quite often encountered poor-quality work. However, there was no choice, since there were no analogues to Oracle at that time. Even such serious departments as the CIA and the US Air Force became interested in his developments.
Larry Ellison always demanded complete dedication from his subordinates. And this tactic paid off: Oracle became the fastest growing company in America.
Income increased every day, and employees had every chance of getting rich. Within the team there was a spirit of eternal competition, which was set by Ellison himself.
Only the strongest and most aggressive survived. All this was duly encouraged, so Oracle's development proceeded at a rapid pace. Naturally, Larry dealt with his competitors in the harshest possible way, using all available methods.
However, this could not last forever. One day, not the most beautiful day, thunder erupted over Ellison's head. Everything came to light: inaccuracies in accounting, deception of clients, theft in the company...
Several years passed in litigation and constant dismissals of employees. But every cloud has a silver lining. Oracle's new developments were much better. Financial position The company began to improve at a rapid pace.
Ellison decided that databases should function so that they could be easily managed over the Internet. That is, the “client-server” technology should replace “Internet computing”. This will give everyone the opportunity to use simple Internet browsers, rather than resort to complex application software.
All this will greatly facilitate reporting in large corporations and save a significant amount of money. Having given the appropriate orders to the software developers, Larry left to rest. However, upon arrival, he did not see any significant progress in the work. His idea seemed too extravagant to the employees. After this incident, Ellison did not leave the company for more than two weeks.
Throughout his 22 years as a manager, Larry Ellison held the reins of power in his hands. In 2000, he was ranked second on the list of the richest people in the world according to Forbes.
The first place was occupied by Bill Gates, for whom Ellison constantly felt a feeling of deep hostility. However, unexpectedly for everyone, in 2004 he decided to sell most of the shares and resign as chairman of the board of directors.
However, the reason turned out to be quite simple: having reached the top in business, Larry Ellison finally decided to improve his personal life and get married for the fourth time.
