In Silicon Valley, there’s an unwritten code of ethics among tech billionaires. They’re supposed to be humble, careful, and at least pretend to care about the world. Someone forgot to tell Larry Ellison.
The founder and CEO of Oracle is the fifth richest man in the world, worth around 50 billion dollars. In September 2013,? he took part in America’s Cup, a race he sold to the city and he was the defending champion of. This race would cost a contestant $100 million to enter. At the same time, the Oracle Open World conference was happening. Thousands were expecting the CEO to be the main speaker. But an hour before he was to take the mic, the people were told, point blank, he’d rather be on his boat competing in the race. That’s where he was.
First of all, they could have scheduled this a little better. They should’ve known Mr. Ellison was going to pursue his $100 million hobby, and that’s exactly where he did. So I can’t fault Ellison for that one. Maybe they’ll do a better job with their scheduling. But there’s something refreshing about Larry Ellison. What you see is what you get. He appreciates his toys and enjoys the fruits of his labor. He doesn’t put on the goody goody face mask some techies do. When I read about how some billionaire or near billionaire donates X amount of dollars, the cynic in me wonders what’s the motive: are they really doing good or just trying to look good to pump up their own company profit. There’s an old saying: when you do good,?don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. I don’t think that will be a problem with Ellison. Plus, I’d always admired people who go against the grain. Isn’t that what Ellison is doing here?