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Oracle is in course to make Larry Ellison the world’s richest man

economist.com

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Re: Oracle is in course to make Larry Ellison the world’s richest man

#21

Post by bluepizza »

nailer wrote: post #20
WisNorCan wrote: post #16

Oracle is one of those companies like Microsoft which many in the tech industry wrote off years ago. Neither one qualified for the illustrious FAANG acronym. Ideally, when these things happen people would examine their blindspots.

I’m still writing Oracle off. It might be profitable but it’s not influential or innovative, and because of the later it will eventually die.

All companies will eventually die. I'm not writing Oracle off, as they don't care about innovation at all. They care about those governmental and corporate contracts that innovative companies shun.

The world is big enough for both to exist.

Re: Oracle is in course to make Larry Ellison the world’s richest man

#24

Post by saaaaaam »

I always find it strange that the “wealth” of people like Larry Ellison is based on the public market price of their companies. He owns 42% or Oracle, and so there is no way that he could realise that value at current market rates. Oracle has more debt than it has assets, and a significant proportion of that debt has been used to implement a stock buy back, putting cash in Larry’s pocket and increasing his ownership share of the company, and therefore his nominal wealth. If the company can keep borrowing it could buy back more of the stock giving him majority ownership of a company that would technically be worth less than nothing, and become the richest man in the world.

Wizardry!

(I know that’s not how valuation of companies like this works, but even so…)

Re: Oracle is in course to make Larry Ellison the world’s richest man

#25

Post by nailer »

bluepizza wrote: post #21
nailer wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m still writing Oracle off. It might be profitable but it’s not influential or innovative, and because of the later it will eventually die.

All companies will eventually die. I'm not writing Oracle off, as they don't care about innovation at all. They care about those governmental and corporate contracts that innovative companies shun. The world is big enough for both to exist.

Actually you're right. I shouldn't say die.

Oracle will fade into obscurity sooner. Like Tivoli or Lotus or Sun.

Re: Oracle is in course to make Larry Ellison the world’s richest man

#26

Post by Gud »

Every time I see these articles I smile to myself.

Do people seriously think these guys are richer than Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud? Or Vladimir Putin? They have nation states at their disposal. Golden palaces. Large armies. National oil and gas industries under their control.

Their wealth and power is so obscene it’s hard to even quantify.

Re: Oracle is in course to make Larry Ellison the world’s richest man

#27

Post by cafard »

nailer wrote: post #25
bluepizza wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All companies will eventually die. I'm not writing Oracle off, as they don't care about innovation at all. They care about those governmental and corporate contracts that innovative companies shun. The world is big enough for both to exist.

Actually you're right. I shouldn't say die. Oracle will fade into obscurity sooner. Like Tivoli or Lotus or Sun.

Or IBM?

Re: Oracle is in course to make Larry Ellison the world’s richest man

#28

Post by namaria »

Gud wrote: post #26

Every time I see these articles I smile to myself. Do people seriously think these guys are richer than Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud? Or Vladimir Putin? They have nation states at their disposal. Golden palaces. Large armies. National oil and gas industries under their control. Their wealth and power is so obscene it’s hard to even quantify.

I honestly think such lists and media attention to some or another private person who owns a big chunk of a highly valued publicly listed company is a distraction. It's designed to keep the public's attention from the reality of the old fashioned monarchies that still rule over half the world's population. All the ink in the world can't change the fact that Russia and China are ruled now as they were in the 9th century: top dog calls the shots and ices enemies.

Re: Oracle is in course to make Larry Ellison the world’s richest man

#29

Post by chii »

saaaaaam wrote: post #24

I always find it strange that the “wealth” of people like Larry Ellison is based on the public market price of their companies. He owns 42% or Oracle, and so there is no way that he could realise that value at current market rates. Oracle has more debt than it has assets, and a significant proportion of that debt has been used to implement a stock buy back, putting cash in Larry’s pocket and increasing his ownership…

The debt is collaterallised on the assets of the company.

The debt servicing will require income which, which would have been taxed, except that payment of interest is pretax. Therefore, the buyback is beneficial because of the tax savings.

Re: Oracle is in course to make Larry Ellison the world’s richest man

#30

Post by hotpotamus »

ksec wrote: post #13
vr46 wrote: post #4

"Larry, you don't need any more money" - Steve Jobs ( https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-larry-ellison-201... )

>Jobs responded by saying, "I think if I went back to Apple and didn't own any of Apple, and you didn't own any of Apple, I'd have the moral high ground." >Ellison's response: "Steve, that's really expensive real estate, this moral high ground." I still have vivid memory of this reading it 10+ years ago. It paints so much character to Steve as a person. Which is mostly considered as an Ass Hole on HN post 2014.

A righteous asshole is still an asshole. But I always thought of Jobs as more like a good coach; he might be demanding and perhaps even tempestuous at times, but people chose to work with him because he drove them and their team to produce.
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