????上周四，甲骨文（Oracle）突然發布公告稱該公司的聯合創始人拉里?埃里森即將卸任CEO。但在這起事件中最令人吃驚的是，它對甲骨文的影響其實微乎其微。

????上個月剛滿70歲的拉里?埃里森于上周四表示，他將繼續擔任甲骨文的執行主席和首席技術官，負責公司的軟件和硬件工程。當年比爾?蓋茨卸任CEO時，也是繼續擔任了微軟（Microsoft）的首席軟件架構師，由此可見埃里森辭職對甲骨文的影響相對較小。甲骨文公司在周四的新聞發布會中指出，工程部門已經開始向埃里森報告工作了。

????甲骨文的兩位新CEO也不會為公司帶來太大變化。

????薩弗拉?卡茨多年來一直是給埃里森“主內”的人，負責公司的財務、法務和生產等核心事務。她也是埃里森的一只“鐵拳”，確保他的意愿能在公司內部順利推行。（我2009年寫過對卡茨的一篇報道，稱她為“執行者”。）就任CEO后，卡茨將繼續負責同樣的職能，包括甲骨文那架龐大的收購機器。

????至于馬克?赫德，他會繼續替甲骨文“主外”，即負責銷售、服務以及甲骨文的“垂直行業全球業務單位”，這是對甲骨文營銷機器的一種委婉的稱呼。早在赫德擔任惠普CEO時，我就說過，赫德是一個天生的銷售經理。在性丑聞事件爆出后，赫德從惠普狼狽地離職，而就在他受千夫所指的關頭，埃里森大膽地向這個亦敵亦友的公司的備受矚目的高管拋去了橄欖枝。

????關于卡茨與赫德擔任甲骨文的聯合CEO，這里還有一個有趣的故事：赫德當年加盟甲骨文時，沒人相信這兩人能相處得來。卡茨多年來一直為埃里森擔任運籌帷幄的角色，大家都認為她會有意回避赫德。而赫德為人精明，擅于算計，對權力和金錢胃口極大，人們都認為他不會對卡茨有多少耐心。

????但是從很多方面看來，哪怕是在今天甲骨文發出聲明之前，都可以看出人們的這些成見完全錯了。卡茨與赫德都不是技術背景出身，都懂財務，都拿著高薪，不過這兩人很快找到了各自的位置，然后在自己的勢力范圍內雷厲風行地統治起來。在甲骨文的員工隊伍里，卡茨與赫德基本上同樣不受歡迎。但是他倆都堅持做好自己的本職工作，必要時卡茨會與銀行家和內部高管打交道，而與顧客唇槍舌劍的任務則交給了赫德。

????那么埃里森為什么要走出卸任這一步呢？

????我認為，由于埃里森有著多種多樣的興趣愛好——比如航海、網球、房地產……他可能終于意識到這些活動有多分心，于是決定交出CEO的權杖。這個假設雖然合理，但還不能完全自圓其說。讓拉里?埃里森分心的事情很多，這早已不是什么新聞了。

????另一個更接近事實的解釋是，埃里森（可能還包括甲骨文的董事會）終于認識到，甲骨文的業務已經循規蹈矩、按部就班得太久了——至少從外表看起來是這樣的。比如云計算作為一種銷售軟件的全新模式，可以讓企業用戶從遠程計算機上按需購買，從而不必再購置全套昂貴的軟件。但甲骨文進軍云計算非常之晚。瑞銀（UBS）分析師布蘭特?希爾指出：“有時候，甲骨文錯過的東西，要比他們正在研究的東西還要重要。在大方向上，有些事是拉里?埃里森必須要從事的，但實際給人的感覺是，他并沒有拿出足夠的精力參與進去。”

????不過奇妙的是，當拉里?埃里森想做一件事時，他總是能不折不扣地做成。現在他已經把公司的鑰匙交到了兩名他精心挑選的副手手里，只不過尚未徹底交權。（財富中文網）

????譯者：樸成奎

????The most shocking thing about Thursday’s bombshell announcement that Larry Ellison is stepping down as CEO of Oracle is how little will change.

????Ellison, who turned 70 last month, said Thursday he’ll become executive chairman of the software company he co-founded decades ago and that he would become chief technology officer with responsibility for software and hardware engineering. The move, resonant of Bill Gates having become chief software architect of Microsoft when he resigned as CEO, changes relatively little about how Oracle runs. As Oracle noted in its news release, engineering already reports to Ellison.

????Not much changes for Oracle’s new CEOs either.

????SafraCatz has been Ellison’s Ms. Inside for years, with responsibility for finance, legal and manufacturing. She has long been Ellison’s iron fist, ensuring that his will was done within the walls of the company. (My 2009 profile of Catz called her “The Enforcer.”) As CEO, Catz will continue to oversee the same functions, including Oracle’s prodigious acquisitions engine.

????As for Mark Hurd, he will carry on as Oracle’s Mr. Outside, running sales, service and Oracle’s “vertical industry global business units,” which is a fancy way of referring to the company’s marketing machine. Hurd is a born sales manager, as I detailed during his earlier, halcyon days as CEO of Hewlett-Packard. (Read “Mark Hurd’s moment,” written a few months before I profiled Catz.) He came to Oracle following an ignominious departure from HP, with Ellison boldly hiring a high-profile executive from a combination partner-competitor in the middle of Hurd’s very public spat with his former board of directors.

????The interesting thing about Catz and Hurd sharing duties as CEO is that when Hurd joined Oracle no one believed the two would get along. Catz, the longtime consigliere to the billionaire boss she clearly revered, was expected to shun Hurd. Hurd, a shrewd and canny operator with an appetite for power and money, was expected to have little patience for Catz.

????By many accounts, even before Thursday’s announcements, those expectations were completely wrong. Catz and Hurd—neither technologists, both financially savvy, both extremely well compensated—appear to have quickly carved up their respective turfs and then run them ruthlessly. Catz and Hurd are deeply and equally unpopular with the troops at Oracle. But they are said to stick to their knitting, with Catz mingling when necessary with bankers and internal executives, grateful to leave conversations with customers to Hurd.

????So why make this move at all?

????The assumption is that Ellison finally decided that given all his various interests—sailing, tennis, real estate, sailing—he might as well acknowledge his distractions and give up the CEO job. It’s a fair assumption but still a head scratcher. Larry Ellison’s distractions are hardly news-alert worthy.

????An explanation that cuts closer to the truth is Ellison’s recognition—and perhaps Oracle’s board’s as well—that Oracle had just blown it for too long to continue business as usual, at least for appearances sake. Oracle has been egregiously late to embrace cloud computing, an entirely different business model for selling software that lets corporate customers use only what they need from remote computers rather than housing expensive software on their own premises. “Oracle has been missing more than they were making for some time,” says Brent Thill, a research analyst for UBS who has been following Oracle for about as long as anyone on Wall Street. “Directionally, there may be some things Larry has to be involved in. But there’s a perception he hasn’t been as engaged.”

????The wondrous thing about Larry Ellison is that he’s always done exactly what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it. Now he’s turning over the keys to his prized company to two handpicked deputies. Just not completely.