Oracle leadership shake-up comes at 'the right moment' as Safra Catz makes way for co-CEOS

Safra Catz has stepped down as CEO of Oracle, with two insiders stepping up to take over the company.

The unexpected move sees president Clay Magouyrk and Mike Silica share the CEO role, a major shift at a key time for the cloud giant, which recently signed a $300 billion deal with OpenAI.

Riding the AI boom, Oracle's shares are up 85% this year alone, helped by a stunning set of quarterly results earlier this month that included $455 billion in sales that haven’t yet been counted as revenue.

Those results helped briefly make its co-founder Larry Ellison the richest person in the world.

Given that, it's no surprise that the leadership shakeup appears focused primarily on driving its AI strategy.

Magouyrk previously served as president of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), the company's platform for data centers. Meanwhile, Silica was previously the president for Oracle Industries, which has recently rolled out AI agents for healthcare, banking, and a host of other key sectors targeted by the hyperscaler.

"Humanity is investing enormous resources in the race to advance Artificial Intelligence," said Oracle chairman and CTO Larry Ellison. "Clay's years of experience leading Oracle's large, fast-growing Cloud Infrastructure business has demonstrated his readiness for a CEO role.”.

"Mike has spent the last several years modernizing Oracle's Industry applications businesses – including Oracle Health – by completely rebuilding those applications using the latest AI technologies."

In a joint statement, the new CEOs said they were "excited to lead Oracle into the AI era." While the role is shared, their pay differs: Magouyrk has been handed a stock deal worth $250 million, with Silica handed a stock package worth $100 million.

Catz set to stay on the Oracle board

Catz has led the company since 2015, becoming co-CEO with Mark Hurd after Ellison stepped aside in 2014, and staying solo after Hurd passed away in 2019.

Catz has long been seen as one of the most successful women in technology, and was one of the highest paid CEOs in the US, earning $138 million in 2022, according to CNBC.

The former chief exec isn't departing completely. Instead, she will start a role as executive vice chair of Oracle's board of directors. In a statement announcing the move, Catz said the shakeup comes at the “right moment to pass the role to the next generation of capable executives”.

"Safra led Oracle as we became a hyperscale cloud powerhouse—clearly demonstrated by our recent results," Ellison said in a statement.

"In her role as Vice Chair, Safra and I will be able to continue our 26-year partnership — helping to guide Oracle's direction, growth and success."

A smooth transition

While few would have seen this shakeup coming, disruption isn't expected, according to analysts.

"Investors are already familiar with both Mr. Magouryk and Mr. Sicilia and that their promotions solidify the importance of the Cloud and Industry businesses as the growth levers for the company," Evercore ISI analysts said in a note according to Reuters.

"The bottom line is that with Larry remaining at CTO and Safra as Executive Vice Chair, we expect a smooth transition in the near-term."

"We think the move expands the breadth of leadership at Oracle, with Larry and Safra still providing guidance and business discipline," Bernstein analyst Mark Moerdler wrote in a note to clients on Monday, according to Morningstar.

Others attempted to guess how the co-CEOs would job-share. "The bottom line is that with Larry remaining at CTO and Safra as executive vice chair, we expect a smooth transition in the near-term," Evercore ISI analyst Kirk Materne said in a note to clients, as reported by Morningstar.

"Our expectation is that Mike will focus on many of the sales initiatives, especially around apps/industry verticals, with Clay in charge of OCI/database."

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