Suite of new products could increase revenue.
(12/10/97; 5:00 p.m. EST)
By Larry Dignan, TechInvestor
NEW YORK -- Oracle chief executive officer Larry Ellison was
short on answers regarding his company's future earnings
prospects, but long on one-liners Wednesday.
Ellison, who gave the afternoon keynote speech at New York's
Internet World under the glare of camera flashes, spoke before a
packed house, but said little to soothe investors. "It's fortunate
we're talking about the network computer," he said. "If you lost a
lot in the market like I did, you can save a fortune with network
computing."
Ellison, who lost more than $2 billion in Tuesday's slide, quipped
his way through the first few minutes of his familiar network
computing speech, handed the presentation off to two of his
troops, and left via a door to the right of that stage before the
lights went up.
Ellison did not attend a news conference following the keynote,
but left it up to Oracle's senior executives to try to shed some
light on the Redwood Shores, Calif., company's disappointing
earnings.
Karen White, senior vice president of worldwide marketing and
business development for Oracle, said the fundamentals driving
the company were still strong, and any problems in the quarterly
results can be fixed.
The recent quarter could be attributed to "growing pains," she
said.
White added that the extent of Asia's problems and an internal
reorganization cut into the second quarter results. She also
defended Oracle's network computing strategy, which some Wall
Street analysts have said is keeping the company from focusing
on its core applications business. |
