Majority Owner of Lānaʻi, Ellison Changes Role at Oracle

Larry Ellison, file photo courtesy County of Maui. Feb. 19, 2013 meeting with Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa.

By Wendy Osher

Software giant, Oracle Corp. today announced a change in executive leadership, saying Larry Ellison will no longer serve as chief executive officer for the company, and has been appointed instead as executive chairman of Oracle’s Board and the company’s chief technology officer.

Ellison is also the majority owner of the Island of Lānaʻi and purchased interisland air carrier Island Air in 2013.

Company executives say Ellison will continue to oversee all software and hardware engineering functions under his new role, according to the announcement.

According to an Oracle press release, the role of CEO will now fall under Safra Catz and Mark Hurd who were both promoted — with Catz to handle manufacturing, finance, and legal functions, and Hurd to handle sales, service and “vertical industry global business units.”

In the press release announcement, Ellison said that Catz and Hurd will now report to the Oracle Board instead of directly to him saying, “All the other reporting relationships will remain unchanged. The three of us have been working well together for the last several years, and we plan to continue working together for the foreseeable future. Keeping this management team in place has always been a top priority of mine.”

Oracle Board Presiding Director Dr. Michael Boskin said Ellison “made it very clear that he wants to keep working full time and focus his energy on product engineering, technology development and strategy.”

Since his purchase of a majority interest on Lānaʻi, shipping volume reportedly increased on the island. In June, visitor arrivals to Lānaʻi, were down 30.8%, and spending was down 27.5% compared to the same month a year before according to the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority. Per person per day spending on Lānaʻi was up 4% in June to $343, and up 0.7% for the first half of the year to $313.60, according to the HTA.