Oracle has responded to yesterday's statement from BEA Systems that it was worth $21 per share. Larry Ellison's software empire had previously offered $17 per share in an unsolicited takeover bid. Oracle says $21 is an "impossibly high price" and "nobody would seriously consider paying that." Well, we saw that coming. So predictable, that Ellison. We look forward to more passive-aggressive statements issuing forth in the future. [Mercury News]
BEA Systems wants at least $21 a share from Oracle — or anyone else who wants to buy them. That's a mere $4 per share more than Larry Ellison offered. Don't expect Ellison to just say "OK" to this. That would make him look weak and easily manipulated. And it was probably a bad move, since it essentially set a ceiling for what Ellison might offer — any more, and he'd look like he gave in to BEA's demands. We suspect, though, that the deal will get done at some point soon, once the two companies are done playing grabass. Oh, and Oracle rival SAP? Says they don't want BEA. Bitches just jealous. [Mercury News]
Larry Ellison is not used to getting rejected. After being spurned twice by BEA's board, Oracle is now threatening to withdraw its $17-a-share offer for the software maker on Sunday. The stock, however, is still trading above $17. Translation? Wall Street thinks Ellison is bluffing. [Tech trader Daily]
Oracle executive John Wookey has left the software company, reportedly after a spat with CEO Larry Ellison. Anything to do with Oracle's recent offer to buy BEA — or a sign of trouble brewing with Oracle's next-generation version of superboring business software? Anyway, all we really care about is the spat. More spats, please! [eWeek]
I'm beginning to think that tech mogul Larry Ellison collects software companies the way he buys car, yachts, and tracts of land: Not because he needs another one, but just because he wants to have more. His devilish $6.66 billion offer for BEA Systems is right in character. For years, BEA has been mentioned as an Oracle takeover target. Its core product line, WebLogic, acts as middleware connecting Web servers and databases. Databases, of course, are Oracle's bread and butter. But Oracle already has its own middleware. The attraction here, I suspect, is more BEA's customer base. As he's done with other software purchases like Hyperion and PeopleSoft, Ellison can slash BEA's costs, rein in new development, and collect the cash flow from software-licensing fees. Which may make BEA a more practical bauble than the rest — but a bauble nonetheless.
Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, thinks Larry Ellison, his equivalent at Oracle, is overpaid. Ballmer says of Oracle's compensation: "I find it interesting and probably not that considered a decision to do what [Oracle have] done." (Ellison received about $74 million, while Ballmer received less than a million dollars.) Which is probably true, but I doubt Ballmer would be talking about it if Microsoft's own compensation committee hadn't said that he's "probably underpaid." Or if he wasn't already worth $15 billion, thanks to his holdings of Microsoft stock. Ballmer thinks increasing the value of his 4 percent ownership of Microsoft is enough motivation — but why is the CEO even bringing up the issue?
"He only flies." So says a member of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's entourage, explaining why, in a fly-by tour of Israel, Ellison is traveling in-country by helicopter. Ellison, in Israel with wife Melanie Craft, the novelist, and flyboy son David. The Ellisons included a tour of Sderot, a town near the Gaza Strip that's been hit by rockets. Ellison reportedly promised to beef up the local community center's air-raid defenses. "Ellison expressed a desire to keep his trip as quiet and private as possible," writes Haaretz's Guy Grimland — perhaps because he doesn't want to remind customers in the Arab world of his Jewish roots. Sorry, Larry, can't help you there.
Software mogul Larry Ellison—the man who got $1.8 million from Oracle for personal security, the guy who has a funicular going up the hill to his Malibu house, the fickle schmuck who's still somehow on only his fourth wife—is finally ready for a new boat, one not quite as big as his, now that he's sold a share in the world's second-largest yacht to David Geffen. Look. We're really into rich people things. Rich people make this city run. Yay richies! Like, yay yachts. But this guy is a total steaming mushroom-eared cretin who doesn't even know how to waste money properly.
The IPO market is unquestionably back. Having tapped the market for financial companies to take public, Wall Street is now turning, yet again, to Silicon Valley for IPO candidates. The latest one: NetSuite, Larry Ellison's pet Web-based software company. NetSuite's premise is simple and appealing: Cheap, Web-based alternatives to software from Oracle and SAP to run small businesses's finances and operations. But NetSuite's S-1 filing, the obligatory prospectus companies must file before they sell shares to the public, is anything but simple and appealing. After the jump, the most disturbing bits, and plain-English translations.
What do you get for your hard work as a Valley executive? Loads of perks, and the Mercury News sifted through SEC filings to find the details. Top recipient was Larry Ellison, who received $1.8M from Oracle to beef up his home security. Also of note: eBay spent $774K on Meg Whitman's travel and another $231K to cover the travel taxes. [Mercury News]
NICK DOUGLAS — Look, I can dig old people. Just because I'm young, energetic and oversexed doesn't mean I'm not aware that some day I'll reach the doddering age of 25. But I know there's a way to keep my inner child, or at least my inner arrogant college junior, by watching the example of still-cool graybeards like Steve Jobs. Guys like Yahoo's awkward CEO Terry Semel, though, show that you can't earn cool just by trying hard. While some of the following lords of tech have kept their cool past age 50, some have turned into embarrassing old men.
In its continuing quest to destroy SAP, bizware maker Oracle will acquire performance software corp Hyperion for $3.3 billion. Since Larry Ellison notoriously fires a swath of people right after he buys, there should be blood in the gutters any moment now. Oracle CFO Safra Catz says they've already mapped out "substantial economies of scale," so place your bets.
Flamboyant billionaire Larry Ellison just can't let the Asian thing go. The Oracle boss hasn't been able to unload his imperial Japanese-style mansion — it can be yours for $16 million — but he still has his sights set on opening a 5,900 square-foot "Asian-themed" restaurant in Malibu. Hope he makes better investments in restaurants than he does in real estate.
Since interest continues to percolate regarding the anonymous billionaire discussed in Michael Wolff's (no, not that Michael Wolf) Vanity Fair article, here's another round of guesses. When last discussed, we declared a toss-up between Mark Cuban and Barry Diller. Remember, the two key hints are "appropriately larger-than-life character, remarkably fit" and "he knew nothing whatsoever about the newspaper business, or news." After the jump, a few more names get dumped into the mix.
Oracle's Larry Elllison seems to work well as animated cartoon as Valleywag posted earlier today. This video posted on youTube by OneRichAsshole chronicles Larry Ellison hitting Malibu and running into a drunk Mel Gibson. The video is episode one, we here at Valleywag eagerly await the next installment.
Dell's Michael Dell, EMC's Joe Tucci, Oracle's Larry Ellison, AMD's Hector Ruiz and Intel's Paul Otellini, drunk on power and hubris made the most upsetting corporate ad I seen to date. Even the poor Linux penguin is debased in this flick, but Larry jumping out in gold armor is priceless.
