THE REDMOND RIVAL COMPANY Oracle Corp., Co-Founder and CEO NET WORTH $8.2 billion AGE 55 ADDRESSwww.oracle.com BIO Ellison would love to rock in a Microsoft-free world. His $8 billion software
company, the second largest after you-know-who (and its only credible
competitor), is already the leading provider of database software for businesses.
This year he moved aggressively into another hot business area--software that
links a corporation's strategic departments--and scared that market's leader,
Germany's SAP. And he's got an eye on an even bigger prize: the network computer.
Ellison's dream is that bare-bones terminals running off huge Internet servers
will beat the Windows operating system into obsolescence--and put Oracle on top.
His trash talk about Bill Gates is legendary, as is his love life (thrice
divorced, he dates a lot), non-tech-geek attire (always impeccable), love for
sailing (he likes to race yachts) and zest for flying (the feds recently nixed
his plans to import a Russian MiG). It's about time this guy had his own
made-for-cable movie. BEST LINE "I don't think Microsoft should feel threatened. After all, we're not
going into the operating-system business. We're just saying you won't need one."
FORWARD TILT Ellison's vision of the future of network computing hits a big snag:
cheap PCs.
