Mark Davison at Oracle OpenWorld, San Francisco – He may have upset customers and partners, and unleashed a barrage of criticism in some IT media for missing his keynote yesterday, but Oracle CEO Larry Ellison certainly seems to have been the talisman of Oracle Team USA as they romped to victory in the America’s Cup in what the US press is hailing as “the biggest comeback in sport ever”.
Yesterday, hundreds of disgruntled delegates to OpenWorld streamed towards the exits as Oracle chairman of the board, Jeff Henley, apologised for Ellison’s absence as “he couldn’t be in two places at once”, and product development head Thomas Kurian took his place on stage.
But, in the words of one forgiving customer executive to this hack, “For Larry, it was his keynote or his country … he chose his country.”
Dramatic, maybe, but Ellison’s presence on the waters of San Francisco Bay this week certainly seems to have worked some kind of magic.
At the weekend, Oracle Team USA was trailing rival Emirates New Zealand 8-1 in the final races of the regatta, but since OpenWorld started, they have managed to win seven races in a row to make it 8-8 leading into the winner-takes-all, final race today.
And when Oracle Team USA crossed the finish line 44 seconds ahead of their rivals this afternoon, it sparked an eruption of national fervour.
Local TV news stations have lead with the story all day, with the national newsrooms not far behind. No doubt, tomorrow’s newspaper front pages will be blaring “historical comeback” headlines.
Eerily, OpenWorld this afternoon had the air of a ghost town after the frenetic, crowded mobbing of the past few days. We have to wonder how many delegates decided today to follow in Larry’s footsteps?