Who is Larry Ellision?

"I went to three universities and didn't get a degree diploma."

Ellison is an American Jew who immigrated from Russia. 1944 was born in Manhattan. Ellison was brought up by his uncle's family and grew up in the lower middle class in the Jewish community of Chicago. At that time, the gap between the rich and the poor was not as big as it is now. As a student, Ellison did not show excellent quality and achievements. At school, he is somewhat withdrawn and likes to be alone.

1962 Ellison graduated from high school, entered the University of Illinois, and left school the next year. Later, Businessweek reported the reason why he left, saying that it was because he failed in the average score, and Ellison was noncommittal. After a summer, he entered the University of Chicago and studied at Northwest University. After studying in three universities, Ellison didn't get any college diploma in the end.

1966 Ellison left his hometown and went to Berkeley, California to prepare for graduate school and start working at the same time. He studied computer programming, mainly developing large computers for IBM. He doesn't want to devote himself to high technology, just want to earn some living expenses. He develops applications for some big companies. At that time, software development meant: hanging tapes, backing up data, monotonous work and no challenge, which was far from being compared with current programmers.

Regarding degrees, Ellison said: "A college degree is useful. I think everyone should get one or more, but unfortunately, I didn't get a degree in college. I have never taken a computer class. Although I became a programmer, I taught myself to program completely from books. "

"I have changed more than a dozen companies and still achieved nothing."

In the past few years, Ellison has changed from company to company. 1973, Ellison worked in Amdal, which competed with IBM to produce large computers, and 45% of its shares were owned by Fujitsu of Japan, so Ellison had the opportunity to go to Japan for business. In Japan, he was fascinated by the typical exoticism of Kyoto. Japanese Zen and culture had a profound influence on Ellison, and he became a lifelong lover of Japanese culture and art.

After leaving Amdal, Ellison joined Ampex, a company that produces imaging equipment in Silicon Valley, where he met two most important people in his life: Bob Miner and Edward Oates. At that time, they were studying how to effectively store and read massive digital information, and Ellison turned to marketing. Their project finally failed. Ellison blamed the company's poor management. "I know more about technology than the company leaders, and I know more about the market than them. If they can run the company, so can I. In this way, he moved the idea of running his own company.

Create Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

Just as they were preparing to set up a company, two legendary companies were born, one was Apple and the other was Microsoft. Although the products, concepts and cultures of these three companies are completely different, their models are the same: the founders are all visionary technology entrepreneurs plus a technology genius: Bill Gates has paul allen, Steve Jobs has Steve Wozniak, and Larry Ellision has Bob Miner.

1In June, 977, Ellison and the three of them jointly invested 2000 dollars to set up a software development and research company, and Ellison owned 60% of the shares. Ellison held so many shares because the company was founded at the instigation of Ellison, who had a project contract of 400,000 US dollars. He is 32 years old.

"When I founded Oracle Bone Inscriptions, I wanted to build a working environment that I loved. This was the main purpose. Of course, I have to support my family through the company, but I didn't expect to be so rich as now. Money is not the most important thing. I really want to work with people I like or appreciate. There is a principle in Oracle Bone Inscriptions's recruitment: if you don't like having lunch with this person three times a week, don't let him join. "

"Billion Dollar Errors" 1976, IBM researchers published a landmark paper "R System: Database Relational Theory", which introduced relational database theory and query language SQL. Ellison read this article very carefully and was deeply shocked by it. This is the first time that someone has used a comprehensive and consistent scheme to manage data and information. Author Ted Codd published relational database theory ten years ago and developed a prototype in IBM Research Institute. This project is an R system, and the language for accessing data tables is SQL. The article describes in detail his ten-year research achievements and how to realize them. After reading these materials, Ellison is keenly aware that software systems can be developed on the basis of this research.

At that time, most people thought that relational database would not have commercial value because it was too slow to process large-scale data or a large number of users accessed the data. Relational database is beautiful in theory and easy to use, but the disadvantage is that it is too simple and the implementation speed is too slow. Ellison saw their opportunity: they decided to develop Oracle Bone Inscriptions, a universal commercial database system named after a project they did for the CIA. However, they are not the only loners. The University of Berkeley also began to develop the relational database system Ingres.

IBM has no plans to develop it itself. There are many reasons why "Blue Giant" gave up this product worth tens of billions: IBM researchers are mostly from academic backgrounds, and they are most interested in theory, not products that are introduced to the market; Academically, research results should be made public, because publishing papers and speeches can make you famous. Why not? Another main reason is that IBM has a hierarchical database product IMS, which sold well at that time. The introduction of a competitive product will affect the work of IMS sales staff. Until 1985, IBM released the relational database DB2, and Ellison had already become a multimillionaire.

Ellison once compared IBM's choice of Microsoft's MS-DOS as the operating system of IBM-PC as "the most serious mistake in the history of world business, with a loss of more than hundreds of billions of dollars". IBM published the R system paper, but the mistake of not launching relational database products soon may be second only to this. 196 The market value of Oracle Bone Inscriptions reached $28 billion.

"Intelligent Marketing Strategy"

A few months later, they developed Oracle Bone Inscriptions 1.0, but it was just a toy, and they could do nothing but complete a simple relationship query. It will take them a long time to make Oracle Bone Inscriptions useful. Maintaining the company's operation mainly depends on undertaking some database management projects and consulting work.

The first two users of Oracle Bone Inscriptions database are CIA and office of naval intelligence, who use completely different hardware and software. The CIA uses IBM mainframes, the Navy uses VAX machines, and Ellison and Miner use digital PDP machines to develop Oracle Bone Inscriptions. This forced them to make an important decision: the new version 3.0 is all developed in C language, because all machines support C language and C compiler is very cheap.

Ellison claims to customers that Oracle Bone Inscriptions can run on all machines, which is of course impossible, but it is a very clever marketing strategy. Large companies and institutions have various types of computers and operating systems, and they are willing to buy universal databases.

Besides IBM's friendly help, Oracle Bone Inscriptions's success is also attributed to digitalization. IBM provided Ellison with relational database theory, and DEC provided the stage for performance: VAX computer. VAX is the most successful minicomputer in history.

"excellent marketing salesman"

The early version of Oracle Bone Inscriptions can't work normally, with many program errors and constant complaints from users, but Ellison firmly believes that it is most important to occupy a large market share as soon as possible. "In the case that the market has been established, do you know how much it costs for Pepsi to win the Coca-Cola 1% market? Very, very expensive. " IBM's style is different. If users are not satisfied, they will not launch new products. Oracle Bone Inscriptions was not a basically reliable operating system before version 5.0 of 1986, but interestingly, early users didn't care about losing money and data, and even the CIA was not unhappy. What they need is the development of technology, not just products. Ellison described the wonderful functions that this product will achieve for them. Although it has not been realized now, they are willing to pay the fee.

Ellison's job is not only to sell products, but also to promote the concept of relational databases everywhere. The standard topic of his frequent lectures is "Defects of Relational Data Technology", which describes the problems that will occur in relational databases, and then introduces how Oracle Bone Inscriptions solves these problems. His other unique sales skill is that when others just talk about the product function, he will give a live demonstration and input the relationship query on the computer, and the result will come out soon. Although the actual application may be different, the audience was impressed. Ellison is not only giving a demonstration, but also training users to use relational query language SQL. Ellison's success is not as a technical expert, but as a marketing expert to a greater extent.

"Oracle Bone Inscriptions was born at the right time, Ellison put the market first, and everything else fell behind. Companies with ordinary technology and first-class market ability can always beat companies with first-class technology and only ordinary market ability, "commented a Silicon Valley veteran.

"I am sure that you will all become millionaires!"

Ellison often tells his employees that as long as they adopt his marketing strategy, they will all become millionaires. In fact, the early employees basically achieved this goal. His strategy is to emphasize three characteristics of Oracle Bone Inscriptions when selling products: portability, compatibility with other database products, especially IBM, and support for extensive network connection. This meets the needs of users, although they actually get less than expected. Ellison's opponent attacked him for always selling bubble software. Bubble software refers to a software product whose function has not been completed.

Ellison's main competitor is Angel. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's sales in 1984 were12.7 million dollars, and Ingres was 9 million dollars. 1985 both have more than doubled their sales, but Ingres has grown even faster. In this way, Ingres will surpass his opponent, but at this time, the blue giant IBM has helped Ellison.

1985, IBM released the relational database DB2, which used a different data query language SQL from Ingres, and Ingres used QUEL. Ellison seized the market opportunity and publicized the compatibility between Oracle Bone Inscriptions and IBM everywhere. As a result, from 1985 to 1990, although the sales volume of Ingres increased by more than 50% every year, Oracle Bone Inscriptions was ahead, with the annual growth rate exceeding 100%. SQL became a formal industrial standard in 1986. The boss of Ingres can't believe Ellison's luck, but that's where Ellison is smart. "The big blue map can never be wrong."

The establishment of SQL standard by IBM is the key to Oracle Bone Inscriptions's success, but the database war is far from over. Sybase and Informix also joined the competition.

"My goal is to defeat the enemy."

One mistake Ingres made was to develop the version on the PC very late. Ellison saw the great potential of the PC like Bill Gates. Oracle Bone Inscriptions soon had a cheap version on his personal computer. Although almost useless, Ellison and salespeople have a powerful propaganda weapon: Oracle Bone Inscriptions can run on a personal computer.

Ellison heard that Ingres invented a new technology-distributed query. 10 days later, Oracle Bone Inscriptions Company announced SQL Star: the first distributed query database. There is no such product. Ellison is like this, imagining what the product should be like and then realizing it. If he succeeds, he is a prophet of success.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions's listing brought Ellison a value of $93 million, and Microsoft went public the next day. Microsoft and Oracle Bone Inscriptions were founded in the same year, and Bill Gates owns more than $300 million worth of stock. At this time, Ellison found the most powerful opponent in his life.

1988, Oracle Bone Inscriptions released version 6.0, which was the most powerful product at that time. However, its hasty listing was a disaster for the company. Initial users of version 6.0 often encounter crashes and database destruction, and the product quality is basically stable until version 6.0.27. The mantissa of 27 indicates that version 6.0 has undergone 27 major revisions.

In that case, why don't users choose other products? The main reason is that if users choose products from other manufacturers, they have to rewrite all the applications, which is a huge workload, so once they choose the database platform for development, they have to rely on it.

"in crisis"

From the establishment of 1977 to 1990, Oracle Bone Inscriptions's sales have maintained an annual growth rate of more than 100%. At the same time, there are huge hidden dangers: the company's financial and sales management is very chaotic. In order to complete the task, the sales staff signed a large number of contracts that could not be recovered, and some even resorted to fraud, and the contract execution was ignored, resulting in negative cash flow. Ellison hired an experienced manager with a high salary and began to rectify the company. 1990 in the third fiscal quarter, the sales contract of150,000 USD could not be executed. As a result, although the quarterly sales reached a record $236 million, the profit only increased by 1%.

The day after the news was announced, Oracle Bone Inscriptions's stock dropped from $25.38 to 17.5, with a market value loss of 30%. In order to survive the crisis, Oracle Bone Inscriptions laid off 65,438+00% employees, and the situation became worse in the next two quarters. The closing price of the stock at the end of 65,438+00 was only $5.38. In the spring, Ellison owned nearly10 billion dollars worth of stocks, and in June, only16 billion dollars was left.

Ellison bravely accepted the challenge. He didn't sell his stock. The company began to improve sales and financial management to maintain sufficient cash flow, and the sales contract must be confirmed. The practices of these ordinary companies have played a great role, but the growth rate of the company has slowed down, which is the real reason why Ellison is unwilling to adopt these practices. In 199 1 and 1992, the company's sales growth rate was only 12% and 15%.

Ellison pinned his hopes on Oracle Bone Inscriptions 7.0. This company has been talking about the new version for several years, and it didn't finally appear until June 1992. This time, he learned the lesson of 6.0' s hasty listing and released the beta version of Alpha 10 a few months ago. Oracle Bone Inscriptions 7.0 is an excellent product and has achieved great success. Ellison's sales team has a real trump card, with sales increasing from 1992 to 15, and then to14.2 billion in 1995.

The company also began to have a mature management style, patiently listening to users' opinions and meeting users' needs. Oracle Bone Inscriptions has never done this. It turns out that Oracle Bone Inscriptions is very careless with customers. A customer called to complain that the Oracle Bone Inscriptions database crashed and destroyed his data. The technical support engineer's answer is: "hooligans, it's useless." This situation will never happen again now, and customers must get first-class service.

"Network Computer that Changed the World"

Ellison is no longer in charge of daily work, just planning the future development direction of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. In his spare time, he took a 78-foot-long "Shayana" for a ride and won the Sydney regatta with 1995.

The information superhighway attracted the attention of Ellison, one of President Clinton's biggest patrons. He tried his best to promote the development of interactive TV and set-top boxes, and soon he found more fascinating opportunities: WWW, Netscape's browser pushed WWW to the whole world, and the performance of PC will no longer be the protagonist, but the value lies in connecting to the Internet.

Ellison introduced the concept of network computer at the European Information Technology Forum held in Paris on 1995. The so-called NC refers to a low-cost computer with simple configuration and full use of network resources. It does not need constantly updated hardware equipment and increasingly complex and huge operating system, nor does it have floppy disks and hard disks. As long as you turn on the power and connect to the network with a browser, you can get information and store files, and the price will not be higher than $500. Ellison targeted the software empire Microsoft this time. "Oracle Bone Inscriptions will only do one thing. We manage massive amounts of data and provide it through the network. "

Behind the network computer is a powerful network server. All data and applications are stored in the database of the server. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's database technology will make the network computer very easy to operate and manage. Gates paid attention to Ellison's speech. He thinks that the network computer is worthless, just a copy of the host sub-terminal. But the victory of this day belongs to Ellison, and the report of network computer appears on the front page of all newspapers and periodicals.

"Japanese culture is very interesting and has a great influence on me. Japanese are the most aggressive people in the world, but also the most polite people. They are extremely arrogant and humble, a wonderful balance. When we founded Oracle Bone Inscriptions, we wanted to create this kind of culture in the company as much as possible. On the one hand, we were proactive, and on the other hand, we were modest. If you can balance the two, your chances of success in the competition will greatly increase, which is the same for individuals and groups. "

The media have different views on network computers. CNET reporter believes that network computers without hard disks need to rely on servers, which will be completely unreliable; The columnist of Businessweek thinks that the network computer will bring a completely different personal computer industry. Microsoft's vice president in charge of technology thinks: "People want computers to provide more capabilities, not less, and network computers are nothing at all." However, large companies and institutions appreciate network computers very much. It is too expensive to update the computer and upgrade the software every two years. 1996 the cost of a standard PC is 2000 dollars, but the maintenance cost of each PC is close to 13200 dollars, so the management cost of network computers should be much lower.

Although Oracle Bone Inscriptions collected IBM, Sun, Apple and Netscape in 1996 and formulated the standards for network computers, it did not actually produce network computers. Although Gates sneered at network computers, he also launched a standard simple personal computer SIPC to fight back. SIPC is basically the same as NC, except that it requires a Windows operating system.

But it doesn't matter anymore. With the competition between AMD and Intel, computers below $800 in 1997 have become a new growth point in the computer industry, and basic computers below $500 will also appear soon. Microsoft is still the market leader, but Ellison never gave up. He said: "The war of ideas has ended and the competition in the market has just begun."

Forbes published the ranking of CEO compensation of American companies, and Oracle Bone Inscriptions ranked first.

[Edit this paragraph]

Forbes magazine today announced the CEO salary ranking of the top 500 companies in the United States in 2007. Although the basic annual salary in 2007 was only $65.438+0.00 million, Larry Ellision, CEO of Oracle Bone Inscriptions Company, jumped to the top of this ranking with his exercise option income of $65.438+0.82 billion.

Forbes' total salary includes basic annual salary, bonus, equity income and other income. According to the data, in 2007, the total salary of CEOs of the top 500 companies in the United States was $6.4 billion, which was 15% lower than that of $7.5 billion in 2006, and it was the first time since 2002 that there was a sharp drop. The average salary of each CEO is $6.5438+$0.28 million, which is lower than $6.5438+$0.52 million in 2006. Option income accounts for a large proportion of the total salary of CEOs of the top 500 companies in the United States and has become one of their main sources of income.

In the latest ranking, Oracle Bone Inscriptions CEO Ellison topped the list with a total salary of $6,543.8+$93 billion; The second place is Frederic M Poses, CEO of Trane, an air-conditioning equipment manufacturer, with a total salary of $654.38+$27 million in 2007; The third place is Aubrey K McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy Company, with a total salary of $65,438+$65,438+$070,000 in 2007. After Ellison, only Cisco CEO john Chambers entered the top 20, ranking 19, with a total salary of $54.7 million. (mol)

Top 500 CEO salary ranking in 2007 (top 20);

Rank Name Company Salary

1 Larry Ellision Oracle Bone Inscriptions 65438+93 million.

Frederick constitutes Trane 654.38+27 million.

3 Aubrey K mcclendon Chesapeake Energy1.1.700 million.

4 Angelo Zrio national finance130 thousand.

5 howard schultz Starbucks 98.6 million

6 Nabeel Gareeb) MEMC electronic materials 79.6 million.

7 Daniel Pamos ·AFLAC 7520 million

8 lloyd blankfein Goldman Sachs 73.7 million

9 Richard D. Fei Zhengqing) First Capital Finance Company 73.2 million pounds.

10 bob Simpson XTO energy 72.3 million.

1 1 Richard Feld Lehman Brothers 7 1.9 million.

12 Steven Rosvornado Property 765438+900,000.

13 Malkindx Fisher 69 million.

14 Steven Abad Safeway 67.2 million.

15 Glegg Hinkis dean food 6665438+ ten thousand.

16 Nicholas d checked Braja General Dynamics 60.3 million.

Leslie Vikner Co., Ltd. brand 5665438+ million.

18 David Novak Yum Brands Group 54.9 million.

John Chambers Cisco 54.8 million.

20 William R. Berkeley) WR Berkeley 5.46 billion.

This is Larry Ellision, President of Oracle Bone Inscriptions Company of Yale University.

The full text of the speech given by the university to the graduating class of 2000, the graduating class of 2000, is due to his sentences.

It was amazing and cold, and finally I was invited off the stage by Yale University security guards. This speech is called the best speech in history, but is it first-class?

C is unknown, but a classic collection of university lectures published in the United States is not included.

Yale graduates, I'm sorry if you didn't like the opening. I want to ask you to do something for me.

Please-look around, look at the students standing on your left, and then look at the students standing on your right. Please imagine this situation: 5 years later, 10 years later, or 30 years later, the person standing on your left today will be a loser; The man on the right is also a loser. And you, the man in the middle, what do you think will happen? Like a loser. The experience of failure. A failed top student.

To tell the truth, I stand here today, and I don't see the bright future of 1000 graduates. I don't see a thousand outstanding leaders in a thousand industries, I only see a thousand losers. Your depression is understandable. Why, I, Ellison, a dropout, dare to spread heresy in the most prestigious university in America?

Let me tell you why. Because I, Ellison, the second richest man on the planet, am a dropout and you are not. Because Bill Gates, the richest man on the planet-at present-is a dropout, and you are not. Because Allen, the third richest man on the planet, also dropped out of school, and you didn't. A little more evidence, because Dell, the ninth richest man on the planet-his ranking is still rising, and he is also a dropout. What about you? No ...

You are understandably upset. You will need these useful work habits in the future. You will need this kind of treatment in the future. You need them, because you didn't drop out of school, so you will never be the richest man in the world. Oh, of course, you can, perhaps, progress to 10, 1 1 in your way, just like Steve. But I didn't tell you who he worked for, did I? According to records, he dropped out of graduate school and became civilized a little later.

Now, I think many of you, maybe most of you, are thinking, what can I do? Do I have a future? Of course not. It is too late. You absorb too much and think you know too much. You are no longer 19 years old. You have a built-in hat. Oh, I don't mean the academic caps on your heads.

Okay ... you're already depressed. That's understandable. So, it may be time to discuss the substance-not for you graduates in 2000. You have already reimbursed it, so it will not be considered. I think you should sneak into that poor job with an annual salary of 200 thousand. The salary table was signed by your classmate who dropped out of school two years ago.

In fact, I put my hopes on my classmates who haven't graduated yet. I want to tell them, get out. Pack your things, take your thoughts and don't come back. Drop out of school and start.

I want to tell you that a hat, a cap and a robe are doomed to ruin you ... just when these security guards are about to kick me out of this podium ... (At this moment, Larry. Ellison is taken off the platform)

"Yale graduates, if you endure.

This kind of prologue, but I want you to do something.

Me. Please look around you. Watch your classmates go to school.

Your left. Look at the classmate on your right.

Now, consider this: five years later, even 10 years later.

thirty

In a few years, the person on your left may become

Losers. At the same time, the person on your right will also be a loser.

What about you, in the middle? What kind of loser can you expect? Loserhood。

Losers, top students. In fact, when I stood in front of me today, I didn't know.

See a thousand hopes for a better tomorrow. I didn't see.

A thousand future leaders in a thousand industries. I saw one.

A thousand losers. You're depressed. That's understandable. After all,

I, Lawrence Larry Ellision, a dropout, how can I?

Have the audacity to say such heresy to the graduating class of a university.

The most prestigious institution in the country?

Let me tell you why. Because of me, Lawrence Larry Ellision, the second.

The richest man in the world, I am a dropout, but you are not.

Because Bill Gates, the richest man on the planet, at least for now.

College dropout, and you're not. Because paul allen, the third one.

The richest man on earth dropped out of college, and you did it.

No. forever

Measure, because Michael Dell, ninth on the list and moving.

Fast is a college dropout, and you are not.

Well (expressing hesitation, etc.) ... you are depressed. That's understandable. Let me row.

your

Arrogance points out that, very sincerely, yours

Diploma is not for nothing. I think most of you have.

Stayed here for four to five years, in many ways.

Learning and patience will serve you well in the years to come.

You've established

Good work habits. You built a network of people.

Will help you in the future. You have built the future.

perpetual

The relationship with the word "treatment" is all good.

Because in fact, you need that network. You'll need these.

Strong work habits. You need that kind of treatment. You'll need them.

Because you didn't drop out of school, you will never be.

The richest man in the world. Oh, sure, you might be able to work.

Until # 10 or # 1 1, just like steve ballmer. But I didn't.

Tell you who it is.

He really works for me, doesn't he? According to the record, he quit.

graduate

School. A little late bloomer.

Finally, I realize that many of you hope that most of you now.

You're thinking, "What can I do? Is there any hope?

What about me? Actually, no. It is too late. You also absorbed it.

Too much, I feel that I know too much. You are not 9 years old anymore. You have one.

The built-in hat, I don't mean yours.

Heads.

Well, you are really depressed. That's understandable. therefore

Maybe this

Maybe it's time to turn things around. Not for you,

Class of 00. You are a logout, so I will let you sneak away.

Your sadness

For a job with an annual salary of $200,000, your check will be paid by.

late

Students who dropped out two years ago. On the contrary, I want to give

I hope all the junior students present today. I'm telling you, I can't

Emphasize this

Enough: leave. Pack up your things and your thoughts and don't come.

Come back. Drop out of school Start. Because I can tell you a hat and a robe.

Will make you fall like these security guards

Dragging me off this stage makes me depressed ... "

(At this point, the CEO of Oracle Bone Inscriptions was taken off the stage. )