Larry Ellison, the 70-year-old founder of Oracle, has stepped down as CEO.
Ellison has handed over the CEO function to Safra Catz and Mark Hurd, but will become chairman of the board. He has also assumed the mantle of chief technology officer.
Jeff Henley, who has served as Oracle’s chairman for the last 10 years, was appointed Oracle’s vice-chairman.
Catz and Hurd will share that CEO function. All manufacturing, finance, and legal functions will continue to report to Catz. All sales, service and vertical industry global business units will continue to report to Hurd. All software and hardware engineering functions will continue to report to Ellison.
“Safra and Mark will now report to the Oracle board rather than to me,” says Larry Ellison. “All the other reporting relationships will remain unchanged. The three of us have been working well together for the last several years, and we plan to continue working together for the foreseeable future. Keeping this management team in place has always been a top priority of mine.”
Dr Michael Boskin, the presiding director of the Oracle board, comments: “Larry has made it very clear that he wants to keep working full time and focus his energy on product engineering, technology development and strategy.
“Safra and Mark are exceptional executives who have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to lead, manage and grow the company. The Directors are thrilled that the best senior executive team in the industry will continue to move the company forward into a bright future.”