Global CIO: In Hurd's Wake, An Ugly Ending For Oracle's Charles Phillips

"Oracle does not have a five- year acquisition budget. We don't even have a one-year acquisition budget. While it is highly unlikely that we will spend anything approaching $70 billion in five years, we will be opportunistic and . . . . " blah, blah, blah. To further humiliate Phillips, the statement did not even mention him by name—it referred simply to an Oracle executive.

FACT: In Monday night's press release welcoming Mark Hurd as Oracle president, the company's other president, Safra Catz, offered this comment on Hurd: "I look forward to working with him for years to come. As Oracle continues to grow we need people experienced in operating a $100 billion business." Splitting hairs for a moment, HP had reached revenue of $125 billion under Hurd, and surely a businesswoman of Catz's stature knows that. So why the allusion to "$100 billion"—and the specific point that Oracle needs people who know how to run "a $100 billion business"? Seems obvious that Catz is saying Oracle's long-term objective is to reach that plateau.

But Oracle's growth over the past 7 years has come mostly from acquisitions, so in order for it to approach even anything close to the $100 billion tossed out there by the very disciplined Catz, acquisitions—lots and lots of acquisitions—will surely be a part of the mix. And they'll be expensive because closing the gap between that $100 billion target and Oracle's fiscal 2010 total revenue of $26.8 billion will be costly.

In the public comment that earned him the woodshedding, Phillips said Oracle's M&A war chest for the next five years would amount to about $70 billion. I'll bet that in September 2015, that number will look pretty good.

FACT: A marketwatch.com news story that came out on Monday before the formal announcements of Phillips departure and Hurd's arrival notes that Oracle very recently stripped from Phillips his responsibility for global business units, leaving him with oversight for only sales and marketing: "Phillips, who remains an Oracle co-president along with Safra Catz, was replaced as the head of global business units by Bob Weiler, a former CEO who came in via an Oracle acquisition, Hunter said. Weiler is the former CEO of Phase Forward, a developer of applications for life sciences and healthcare acquired by Oracle in April for about $685 million. The change leaves Phillips responsible only for sales and marketing, Hunter said. . . . An Oracle spokeswoman declined to comment and noted that Phillips is still co-president and a member of Oracle's board of directors."

Again, if Phillips were looking to leave as Ellison had stated, why the petty politics in his final days? I mean, we know Phillips graduated from the United States Air Force Academy and then became a captain in the United States Marine Corps, so clearly he's not afraid to take some big hits for the team.

But this slow and undignified and pointed death-by-many-cuts treatment just doesn't strike me as the way a company would treat a top-level executive who'd done so much for the company in 7 years on the job.

FACT: Ellison says that 10 months ago, Phillips expressed his desire to leave. Ten months later, Phillips is still with the company. Then Mark Hurd suddenly becomes available, and then Charles Phillips suddenly leaves. What a coincidence.

In closing, two numbers, and then two thoughts:

In Phillips' seven years with Oracle, it acquired 66 companies and evolved from a large database company to the world's largest business-software company with strong presence in databases, middleware, horizontal applications, and vertical-industry applications. Shortly after Phillips joined Oracle, it posted annual revenue of $10.2 billion for fiscal 2004. Three months ago, it posted annual revenue of $26.8 billion for fiscal 2010. Parting thought #1: I still don't believe in coincidences at this level. Parting thought #2: Mark Hurd better watch his back. RECOMMENDED READING Global CIO: Larry Ellison Looms Large Over Put-Down Of Oracle President Global CIO: Resurrecting Mark Hurd: Larry Ellison's War With IBM Global CIO: Larry Ellison And Mark Hurd: The Job Interview Global CIO: Burying Mark Hurd: Hewlett-Packard And Its Future Global CIO: Larry Ellison's Acquisition List: Who's #1? Global CIO: Hewlett-Packard CEO Hurd's Strategy: The Infrastructure Company Global CIO: Oracle Dumps HP After Co-Creating 'Most Successful Introduction Ever' Global CIO: Larry Ellison's IBM-Slayer Is Oracle Exadata Machine Global CIO: Oracle's Larry Ellison Declares War On IBM And SAP Global CIO: IBM Claims Hardware Supremacy And Calls Out HP's Hurd Global CIO: Larry Ellison's Hardware Boasts Are Nonsense, Says IBM Global CIO: Oracle Needs More Than Talk To Beat IBM's Systems Global CIO: Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's Top 10 Reasons For Buying Sun Global CIO: Oracle CEO Larry Ellison On The Future Of IT IBM CEO Sam Palmisano Talks With Global CIO Global CIO: An Open Letter To Oracle CEO Larry Ellison Global CIO: Sam Palmisano's Grand Strategy For IBM Global CIO: In Oracle Vs. SAP, IBM Could Tip Balance Bob Evans is senior VP and director of InformationWeek's Global CIO unit.

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