PHOTO BY: Norman Jean Roy--OUTLINE
PREVIOUS | NEXT
|
|
Co-founder and chief executive, Oracle Corp. (last year No. 8)
NET WORTH $5.8 billion
AGE 54
ADDRESS 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood
Shores, Calif.
BIO The flashy antihero of Silicon Valley, Ellison
heads the second largest software company in the world. Being No.
2 would satisfy most people. So would Ellison's conceits--a $40
million Japanese-style compound, an accomplished yachting record
and his very own fighter plane. But Ellison is not most people.
For years the Oz, as he is called because Oracle headquarters
resemble the Emerald City, has waged a vocal war on No. 1. He
regularly rails against Bill Gates, and is known to consider just
about any strategy that might topple Microsoft and give Oracle
top billing. Still, Ellison commands respect from his peers for
his leadership of the world's premier database-software company.
For all his high-priced toys and competitive rhetoric, Ellison is
deeply invested in seeing the company he founded in 1977 with
$2,000 succeed.
1998 POWER PLAY This year Ellison has had more
keeping his hands full than a busy sailing schedule. He is
personally heading his company's applications division and
doubling its sales force to 2,000. Plans are in the works for a
$40 million ad campaign and a version of the company's mainstay,
database software, based on Java.
PLACE YOUR BETS Some analysts
doubt the strength of Oracle's products against fierce
competition, but no one wants to count Ellison out. Hold.
|
