The Silicon Review ^Asia

Lawrence Joseph Ellison is an exemplary businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who believe in the power of dreams. Forbes magazine listed him as the fifth wealthiest person in the United States and as the eighth wealthiest person in the world as of June 2018.

Ellison was born in New York City to an unwed Jewish mother who gave his custody to her aunt and uncle after he suffered pneumonia at the age of nine months. After graduating from the South Shore High School at Urbana-Champaign, Larry joined the University of Illinois but he dropped out from the university after his 2nd year because of the death of his adoptive mother. Later, he attended the University of Chicago for one term, where he first encountered computer design and became keen to learn computer programming.

He went through a lot of trials and tribulations in his life, but nothing could stop him from becoming one of the true global leaders and pioneers in the software industry. After working briefly for Ampex Corporation on a database project for the CIA, which he named “Oracle”, he co-founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL) in 1977 which was later renamed as Oracle Systems Corporation. In 2014, he stepped down as CEO of Oracle and presently serves as the Executive Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of Oracle.

Ellison, the “Samurai warrior of Silicon Valley”, had almost lost his company when Oracle nearly became bankrupt due to his hard changing sales pitch, which initially gave the company many customers but was later understood by Larry as “an incredible business mistake”. Under his leadership, Oracle enjoyed years of industry dominance until the rise of Microsoft.

Larry’s business style is brash and hard-hitting and he is one of the most ambitious entrepreneurs of all time. He has a great passion for adventurous sports and had faced severe injuries while participating in them. He is also a licensed pilot and has also done a cameo in Iron Man 2. He is not only a successful and one of the wealthiest business tycoons, but also a true all-rounder!

“Great achievers are driven, not so much by the pursuit of success, but by the fear of failure”, quotes Ellison whose success story teaches that your perseverance and endurance will definitely be rewarded one day!