Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO
Position: 14 Last year: Not ranked
Why? For redefining the leading software supplier as a services provider
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Larry Ellison has been perhaps the most colourful figure in the global IT industry for the past 15 years. His company, Oracle, has fought off and swallowed up the competition to transform itself from one of a number of database specialists to a provider of complete back-end systems.
Always outspoken, Ellison's undeniably larger-than-life ego would appear to be the driving force behind Oracle's success.
Surprisingly, this is the first year since 2003 that Ellison has registered on the Agenda Setters Top 50 list. Even four years ago he was only rated at 40.
The judges this year were impressed by the way he has steered Oracle into pole position above the mighty SAP by redefining the company as a services provider rather than a software supplier, especially in large government contracts.
Ellison is also the majority shareholder of NetSuite, a CRM and ERP software-as-a-service vendor, which announced its intention in July to float on the stock market.
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Content featuring Larry Ellison
Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison is looking to extend his footprint to inexpensive laptops and other electronics gadgets. Ellison said on Tuesday that he wants to boost use of Java software on netbook computers and other devices after his...
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Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison is a strong proponent of SaaS. Ellison is also the founder and majority owner of NetSuite, a company that sells accounting programs to small and mid-sized businesses.
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