Larry Ellison: From an 'orphan' boy to a 'giant' Oracle 'owner' of the tech world

Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Ellison, a name that has become a legend in the global tech industry, is the most influential entrepreneur in history. From an abandoned boy, he rose to become one of the richest people on the planet.

Biography and background

Larry Ellison was born on August 17, 1944 in New York City, United States. He was the son of a young unmarried female secretary and a pilot in the U.S. Air Force. Difficult circumstances since he was born soon shaped his life. When he was nine months old, Larry contracted severe pneumonia. His biological mother, Lillian, knowing she couldn't take care of the child, decided to send him to be raised by his aunt and uncle in Chicago .

Ellison's life in Chicago's South Side neighborhood is a contrasting picture. His adoptive mother, Lillian Ellison, loved and cared for him dearly. By contrast, his adoptive father, Louis Ellison, a Jewish immigrant and government employee, was extremely strict. This opposition created a complicated childhood, but it also forged Ellison a resilient will and a strong spirit of resistance.

Youth is full of turbulence

After graduating from South Shore High School in 1962, Ellison went on to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Initially, he intended to become a doctor, but life took him in a different direction. After two years, he decided to drop out of school when his adoptive mother died.

In 1966, Ellison briefly attended the University of Chicago, where he was first exposed to computer science. This subject aroused a strong passion in him and became a turning point that changed his entire career later. Although he dropped out of school for the second time, his knowledge of computers and programming languages provided a solid foundation for his entrepreneurial path.

Career start: Years of "hiring" and accumulating experience

After leaving school, Larry Ellison moved to Northern California, where the tech wave was booming. He started his career as a programmer at various companies. This is an important period for him to accumulate experience and hone his professional skills.

In 1973, Ellison went to work at Ampex Corporation, a company specializing in electronics and videotapes. There, he met two of his future co-founders of the company: Ed Oates and Bob Miner. All three share a passion for technology and a desire to build something groundbreaking. Later, Ellison also held the position of associate director of research and development at Precision Instruments. These valuable experiences helped him nurture his entrepreneurial ideas and aspirations, laying the foundation for the Oracle empire.

Founding Oracle: Seizing the Golden Opportunity and Building an Empire

In 1977, the time was ripe. Inspired by a scientific paper on relational data modeling by IBM scientist Edgar F. Codd, Larry Ellison and his friends Bob Miner and Ed Oates founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL) with a capital of just $2,000, of which $1,200 was Ellison's own pocket.

Noticing that IBM was slow to commercialize relational database technology, Ellison was quickly one step ahead. They developed a database management system (DBMS) called Oracle. This product, based on the Structured Query Language (SQL), solved the problems faced by legacy systems and quickly became a pioneering solution in the industry.

In 1982, the company was renamed Oracle Systems Corporation, after its flagship product. Under Ellison's leadership, Oracle has made rapid strides. The company officially went public in 1986, ushering in a period of strong growth, dominating the enterprise software market and becoming a formidable competitor to other "big players".

Deals of the Century and Acquisition Wars

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Oracle faced stiff competition from rivals such as Informix and Sybase. However, with a bold and decisive strategy, Ellison helped the company overcome the crisis.

The acquisition of Sun Microsystems in 2010 for $7.4 billion is considered one of Ellison's boldest moves. Owning Sun has given Oracle control over important products such as the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, and especially the MySQL open-source database management system. This deal not only strengthens Oracle's position in the enterprise software segment but also expands into the field of hardware and technology infrastructure.

Under Ellison's leadership, Oracle has made a series of other high-profile acquisitions, including PeopleSoft (2005, worth $10.3 billion), Siebel Systems (2006, worth $5.8 billion), and BEA Systems (2008, worth $8.5 billion). These deals have helped Oracle consolidate its dominant position in the enterprise software market and become a formidable competitor globally.

Influence in the technology industry and giant competitors

After nearly 37 years as CEO, in 2014, Larry Ellison stepped out of the hot seat and handed over the reins to Safra Catz and Mark Hurd. However, he still serves as Executive Chairman and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), directly involved in Oracle's strategic decisions and technology development direction, especially in the cloud computing segment.

Currently, Oracle is facing stiff competition from other technology "giants" such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Ellison has stated that Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) will be the next-generation cloud computing platform, outperforming its competitors in terms of performance and cost. With his "warrior" spirit, he continues to lead Oracle in this race, promising thrilling confrontations.

One of Ellison's latest moves is a commitment to making artificial intelligence (AI) a focus of Oracle's development. He believes that AI will be the main driver of growth in the future and that Oracle must lead this revolution. The company has been investing heavily in AI data centers and partnering with startups in the field.

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