Oracle Execs Get That Shrinking Feeling

It still pays to run Oracle, just not as much as it used to - top executives’ packages shrank by double digits in fiscal ’16 as the software titan continued to desperately seek out cloud business.

Company co-founder Larry Ellison, who these days also carries the CTO and exec chairman titles, received $41.5m in total for the 12 months ended 31 May, down from $63.6m in the prior year, an SEC filing confirmed.

He was paid $1 in salary - as he has been for years - but stock and options awards were the areas that caused the 35 per cent drop in overall compensation.

That shrinking feeling won’t be new to the man, his total earnings were $67.26m in fiscal ’14.

But hey, there’s no need to start a crowdfund to help Larry maintain the lifestyle he’s become accustomed to - at least not just yet - he’s the seventh richest person on the planet with an estimated fortune of $43.6bn.

Joint-CEOs Safra Catz and Mark Hurd also saw remuneration squeezed, it dropped 23 per cent and 22.8 per cent to $40.9m and $41.1m respectively. Their salary was flat at $950,000 but stock and award options reduced.

Thomas Kurian, president of product development received $35.7m, down 2.34 per cent year-on-year, and executive veep of systems John Fowler was paid $13.8m, down 34.7 per cent.

Oracle, like the rest of the software industry, is trying to convert on-premise customers to cloud service users, while still trying to manage its classic licensing business.

The business however has lacked the scale of AWS or Microsoft; it reported revenues of $2.8bn in fiscal ’16, up 36 per cent on the prior year, which is less than both those rivals turn in one quarter.

Total sales at Oracle declined three per cent in the 12 months to $37.04bn, operating profit was down nine per cent to $12.6bn. ®

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