The Oracle of Oracle: The Story of Volatile CEO Larry Ellison and the Strategies Behind His Company's Phenomenal Success
Slight management-lessons treatment; useful only for the Oracle chronology.
Summary
The reference has not verified this book in detail; the summary states only what the title, author and subject establish.
Florence Stone wrote this account of Larry Ellison and Oracle for a business readership, covering the company from its founding in 1977 through the period around 2000.
The material covers Oracle's origins in relational database technology derived from IBM research that IBM did not commercialise, the aggressive sales culture that drove growth, the accounting crisis of 1990 when revenue recognition practices produced a restatement and a near-collapse, the recovery under Ray Lane, the competition with Microsoft, SAP and IBM, the internet repositioning, and Ellison's personal conduct and public statements.
The reference has not verified this book in detail. It is a business-press treatment based on published sources rather than on original access, and it predates Oracle's acquisition strategy under which it bought PeopleSoft, Siebel, BEA, Sun and dozens of other companies, which is the period that defined the modern firm. Readers wanting a fuller account should consider Mike Wilson's The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison or Matthew Symonds's authorised Softwar.
Key takeaways 6
- Oracle commercialised relational database technology developed in IBM research that IBM itself did not bring to market quickly.
- An aggressive sales culture drove growth and produced the revenue recognition problems that caused the 1990 restatement.
- The 1990 crisis nearly destroyed the company and forced the professionalisation of its finance and operations functions.
- Ellison's public conduct and rivalries were a deliberate part of the company's positioning rather than incidental to it.
- The book predates Oracle's acquisition strategy, which is what defined the company that exists now.
- The reference has not verified this book's contents in detail and better-sourced accounts exist.
Who should read it
Readers interested in Oracle's early history, with the caveat that this entry is not verified in detail and other accounts are better sourced.
Where it sits in the reference 2
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