Oracle Donates $7M Software to UA

Larry Ellison, chairman and CEO of Oracle Corp., announced on Nov. 3 that his company had given $7.1 million worth of software and curriculum to the Information Technology Research Center in the University of Arkansas’ Sam M. Walton College of Business.r

“This grant represents Oracle’s ongoing commitment to education and helping universities equip students with industry-relevant skills,” Ellison told the crowd at the UA’s Reynolds Center.r

Based in Redwood City, Calif., Oracle is the world’s leading supplier of software for information management.r

The gift includes the Oracle9i Database, iDS, iAS, diagnostics and tuning and management tools, according to the UA. The package also includes data mining and data warehousing software, which will be used as part of the Information Systems department’s business intelligence and enterprise systems curricula.r

In September, Oracle joined the ITRC as its latest corporate member, represented by Bill Weils, the company’s senior director for Global IT. Weils joined ITRC’s board of advisers, which includes 15 other top IT professionals.r

With revenue of $9.5 billion in fiscal 2003, Oracle technology can be found in the offices of 98 of the Fortune 100 companies.r

Ellison has been Oracle’s CEO since he co-founded the company in June 1977. r

After the terrorism of Sept. 11, 2001, Ellison offered to provide software to the U.S. government to help track terrorists.r

Ellison told the UA audience that he was outraged that it was easier for retailers to check a customer’s credit than it is for U.S. authorities to track terrorists because no single database exisits to provide information on potential terrorists.r

“It strikes me odd that we would make shopping more convenient,” Ellison said. “Shopping is important, but it’s not more important than the lives of my family.r

“These people [terrorists] are very dangerous in my opinion. They want to explode a nuclear device in Manhattan.”r

Such an explosion, Ellison said, would cause a worldwide economic depression.r

Ellison said “the next big thing” will be biotechnology.r

“More companies will be started in the life sciences than any other industry,” he predicted.r

In response to a student’s question, Ellison said his main competitor is Bill Gates’ Microsoft Corp.r

“I kind of look at it as Microsoft vs. mankind,” Ellison said.r

Ellison is a college dropout who as been divorced three times. He is also the ninth-richest person in America, with a net worth of $18 billion, according to Forbes magazine. That puts him behind Gates at No. 1 with $45 billion and five members of the Walton family of Bentonville, taking the No. 4 through No. 8 spots, with $20.5 billion each.r