Larry Ellison steps down as CEO of Oracle

Larry Ellison is stepping down as CEO of Oracle, the company he co-founded. He will remain involved with the company, becoming executive chairman and chief technology officer. The CEO position is filled by two senior Oracle officials.

In his new position as CTO, Ellison will be responsible for hardware and software development. Ellison, one of the richest people on the planet, will continue to work full-time, the company emphasizes. In addition, despite not being CEO anymore, he is firmly in control: he becomes the ‘executive chairman’ of the board of directors, to which the new CEOs report.

Mark Hurd, who previously served as CEO of HP but had to leave due to allegations of sexual harassment, will be named CEO along with Safra Catz, another senior Oracle official. Catz will be responsible for manufacturing, financial and legal development matters, while Hurd will be primarily responsible for sales and support for Oracle products. It is not unique for a company to have more than one CEO: Blackberry had two CEOs for a long time.