Oracle Calls Out Autonomy CEO
oracle.com
oracle.com
HP is buying Autonomy for 10+B. Many analysts feel this is over priced, and on Oracle's earnings call Larry Ellison couldn't help but get a jab in at HP by saying that they (Mark Hurd ironically) told Autonomy they were overpriced at their current 6+B Market Cap when Autonomy went to Oracle looking for a suitor.
Autonomy CEO then said "WTF we never talked to Oracle about being purchased".
Then this.
Either that, or the two companies are actually having a joke at our (tech industry watchers) expense.
I don't think my opinions of Larry Ellison had been high for some time, but recent actions and publishing this sort of press release hardly raises them. Perhaps this will be the final downfall of Oracle; that their reputation in the tech community so precedes them that they run out of willing labour and / or partners?
Wage inflation in developing countries is much more of a problem for Larry than "boardroom etiquette".
As for the other side, there's not just the issue of who builds for them but who builds with them. If the industry perception of Oracle becomes establised that they're awkward, litigious and have an attitude problem, who's going to buy the licenses and build products against their platform?
I don't think they have a reputation for being awkward with their own customers/partners/etc; they're unashamedly merciless with competitors, and this is well known. In the enterprise sector the two categories often overlap, but then again in those circles being a shark is actually considered a good thing anyway.
At the moment their target is squarely HP, like SAP before them, and this is what it means. It's actually mildly amusing, if you've followed the whole saga with Apotheker living on a plane etc.
I'm sure they are targeting (who they think are) their competitors. I see and hear good things about their technology. I don't doubt the management culture of some organisations would count it as to their credit that they act 'forcefully'.
But still, there surely has to come a tipping point beyond which aggressive nastiness and cockiness works against, not for them. It's not relevant for me on several grounds but this is one more black mark against Oracle's culture for me that would discourage me from working with them and make me wonder what it'd take for them to do something similar to me.
The "enterprise" world is full of sharks, Oracle is just one of many.
See, Oracle is not (and never was) a technology company. They are a huge marketing and sales organisation that happens to dabble in technology products.
The carnage of Sun top engineers after the takeover should tell us something.
That said, I think it's a dumb, childish and immature move.
2 Minutes of LOL and gufaw! As a believer in kharma (in the metaphorical sense) I think that will come back and bite.Messrs. Hurd and Ellison.
Secondly, Notch is playfully avoiding a lawsuit. Oracle is settling a score.
A) ridicule HP into dropping Autonomy bid
B) because of A the stock price of HP drops significantly
C) Oracle buys HP
D) Mark Hurd gets his HP executive washroom key back.
I don't think Oracle would do anything to benefit HP
It's professionally put together, but if I someone tried to use these as slides during a presentation I'd want to tear my eyes out.
This does not stop consultants from presenting such decks. And yes, those presentations will make you want to tear your eyes out.
It's basically Mark Hurd getting back at HP in the most pathetic way I've ever seen.
"Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world's most complete, open, and integrated business software and hardware systems company."
Put it on every release, it will become true? Or something?
See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/29/autonomy-orac...
Slides prepared by Qatalyst in January, meeting between Autonomy and Hurd as an introduction, not a sales pitch.
> Mr. Lynch then accused of Oracle of being ‘inaccurate’. Either Mr. Lynch has a very poor memory or he’s lying.
Wow, things are really getting dirty between Oracle, HP, and Autonomy. Wonder will this affect HP's embattled share price further?
It is pretty interesting to me that during the SPARC SuperCluster event, Ellison did not mention HP, but instead focussed heavily on IBM's server.
And Andreessen should be listened in this field because.... ? Serious corporations go for IBM, Oracle, SAP and the likes. They want stability and someone to show up and fix when things go wrong. Most of the 'startups' Marc is talking about, will be not be here 5 years from now.
What was Marc's last good investment? Ning or Groupon?
Google, Apple, Facebook are all using Oracle albeit not for their main consumer-facing product but more for internal systems that performs e-Commerce functionality.
Check my above reply for Google.
But if you mean any Oracle technologies that need to be licensed, then no.
Of note, he's also on the HP board of directors
He bought FB way too late than most others. What valuation did he buy in Zynga, Twitter etc than we'll talk? Jut because they're 'hot' now doesn't mean that they'll make him money later.