Larry Elison: Visionary or modern day Ghengis Khan?

Oakland Tribune, Jul 27, 2003 by Tim Simmers - BUSINESS WRITER

When Oracle launched a hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft last month, this new Battle of the Bay provided the perfect stage for one of corporate America's most rebellious and bombastic characters.

In a never-go-quietly style that he has groomed for more than two decades, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison shed decorum, and some say decency, when he announced his Redwood Shores-based firm's unwelcomed $16 a share bid for the rival software company in Pleasanton. Not only did he declare he was going to bully his way into PeopleSoft's boardroom and eventually ownership, he intially declared thousands of PeopleSoft employees were in his cross-hairs: thousands of jobs would be eliminated when the deal would be consumated.

That set into motion very public counter attacks from PeopleSoft CEO Craig Conway, who called him a modern day "Ghengis Khan" with "atrociously bad corporate behavior." Conway alleged the whole takeover was nothing more than a sham intended to disrupt PeopleSoft's sales and a proposed merger with Denver-based J.D. Edwards. PeopleSoft employees openly deplored Ellison's threat to kill their jobs. Pleasanton city officals questioned the integrity of the man who would insensitively target thousands of jobs as the spoils to his corporate victory.

As he had done many times before on his way to amass a fortune of $16.6 billion, Larry Ellison was right where he wanted to be - in the firestorm of a controversy that he ignited.

Beyond his corporate ruthlessness and his "Art of War" training, Ellison has forged a reputation as a visionary and renaissance man, steering his yacht and piloting fighter planes while driving his company near the top of the industry.

Everyone is fair game for his barbs. He often disparages rivals like Bill Gates of Microsoft, and runs a tight ship that rewards employees who produce and squeezes out those who don't measure up.

Failure not an option

The brash Ellison's disdain for failure and obsession with reaching the top sprung from his childhood, when his adoptive father bashed his self-esteem, telling him he'd never amount to anything, according to author Mike Wilson's book "The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison," which carries the subtitle "God Doesn't Think He's Larry Ellison."

"Larry told me his father was terribly hard on him, and he didn't like that, but said it made him tough and competitive," Wilson said.

Ellison, who's building a sprawling Japanese-style Villa in the lush hills of Woodside, is known as a ruthless businessman who's willing to court death. He nearly died in a high-profile yachting race off the coast of Austraila in 1998. Ellison had to navigate his yacht "Sayonara" through a crushing hurricane in that harrowing Sydney-to-Hobart race, which he eventually won.

He's now creating a hurricane for PeopleSoft and Conway, a former top Oracle sales chief, who called his ex-boss' move "diabolical." Soon after the hostile bid was announced, Conway said Ellison's plans were "like me asking if I could buy your dog so I can go out back and shoot it."

Earlier this month, Ellison used his flashy, often sarcastic manner to chastise Conway for reacting so defensively to the bid. "I think at one point Craigy thought I was going to shoot his dog," Ellison said at a meeting with analysts. "I love animals. If Craigy and Bear were standing next to each other and I only had one bullet, trust me, It wouldn't be for the dog."

Despite PeopleSoft's rejection of the takeover bid, Oracle's $19.50 per share offer remains on the table as it awaits anti-trust review. Meanwhile, PeopleSoft has purchased J.D. Edwards, which for now has given PeopleSoft the upper hand. But Ellison has expressed a willingness to wait, displaying a patient determination that is as natural to the man as his sometimes fiery outbursts.

Pleasanton Mayor Tom Pico is very unhappy about "the raid on PeopleSoft.""To come in and try to kill a company and terminate a sufficient number of jobs is hard to swallow," said Pico. "The timing is terrible in a big economic downturn, with a lot of people already out of jobs in this community."

Born in Chicago

Ellison, 58, grew up in Chicago, where he forged his edge a long time ago.Born to an unwed mother in 1944, he was adopted by relatives and raised in a Jewish home on the South Side. His adoptive father, Louis Ellison, fled Russia in the early 20th century. As a young man, Louis Ellison put together enough money to make down payments on some apartment buildings. Then he leveraged those properties to buy more, according to Wilson's book.

But during the Great Depression, Louis Ellison's tenants didn't pay rent. He couldn't make the mortgage payments on his properties and he lost his money.Ellison graduated from South Shore High School in 1962. Then he enrolled at the University of Illinois at Champaign- Urbana, where he dropped out in 1964 following his sophomore year.

He also went to the University of Chicago, and in the '60s attended the University of California, Berkeley. But he never graduated from college, a fact Ellison recently joked about "holding me back."Great community partner