By Larry Ellison and Oracle: a story that looks like legend
Episodes in the life of Larry Ellison make for some interesting stories – about business and life in general. When he is not trash-talking his competitors, Larry will either be buying islands, racing yachts or offering tech advice to the various boards he sits in; there is always something refreshing in the manner in which Larry Ellison approaches life.
With an estimated net worth of $78.5 billion, this tech titan ranks as the seventh filthy richest person in the world today. The most captivating aspect of his life is that he did not grow up in a rich family and neither did he study to impressive levels. Let us dive right into the details of how a two-time college dropout manages to earn a spot at the top of the league.
Humble beginnings
Born Lawrence Joseph Ellison on August 17, 1944, Larry was the son of Florence Spellman who was a single parent. The circumstances of how he grew up are not yet clear but his life changed dramatically when he was only 9 months old; he fell ill with pneumonia and the mother decided to give him up for adoption to his aunt and uncle who lived in Chicago at the time.
Life was good for Lillian and Louis Ellison as they tried their best to bring up young Larry the best way they could. Tragedy would however strike when Larry was in his second year of college; Lillian Ellison passed on. Larry dropped out of school and again for the second time when he rejoined the following fall.
Hard work begins
Real life for Larry Ellison began when he moved to Berkeley, California in a bid to earn a living. The next 10 years were characterized by him moving from one company to another. His motivation at the time was that he did not have money but had to survive. Luckily for Larry, he developed an interest in computer skills and always found something new to learn in the many companies he worked for.
At one point, he worked for Amdahl where he worked as a programmer. He was one of the developers who worked on the first ever mainframe that was compatible with IBM.
Building an empire
During his tenure at Amdahl, Larry and two of his work colleagues were commissioned by the CIA to build a system that would be used to manage data. They founded a company and named it Software Development Labs which they used to deliver the product. For a whole year, this new company generated less than $1 million in revenue and less than 10 members of staff. Their big break came in 1981 when IBM signed up for Oracle. The next 7 years so a progressive annual doubling of sales. The company was renamed to Oracle to reflect this success.
In 1986, Oracle Corporation announced an IPO but due to some key “sales mistakes”, the actual revenue of the company differed with actual accounting projections. This state drove Oracle to the brink of bankruptcy. It took a restructuring of the main product and management to get it back on track. By 1992, Oracle was recognized as a leader in data management.
Ellison has made a huge chunk of his wealth from income as the majority shareholder of Oracle. His success can also be attributed to income generated through acquisitions and buying into other tech related businesses. Some businesses which have been gobbled up by Oracle include Sun Microsystems, Siebel Systems and PeopleSoft – all these acquisitions have helped Oracle to achieve its current asset value of more than $185 Billion and staff base of over 135,000 employees as at 2020.
The other side of Larry Ellison
When he is not pursuing riches through his various business interests, Larry will be found racing yachts. He owns a yacht, Rising Sun, which at 450 feet is among the world’s biggest privately owned vessels. In 2010, he participated in the BMW Oracle team races to win the prestigious award of America’s Cup. That win saw the cup back in the United States after an absence of 15 years – the win was again achieved in 2013.
A classic rags-to-riches story, the life of Larry Ellison is a lesson to those who wish to aim for greatness without a bearing. Not considering the fact that he was new in town, Larry was brave enough to start a business in an untested sector of the market. His legacy of riches begins with a mindset of wanting to make life easy for himself and not necessarily rake in a massive income. Driven by passion and the right attitude, Larry has risen to the top riding on the backs of some of the most intelligent and hardworking people in the tech space.
