Good delegation of duties. Both are first class managers and it actually makes sense. As for Bloom, its hard to pass up running a $1 billion dollar growth company; he needed the challenge.
Oracle Shares Fall as Company Loses Another Executive
Redwood Shores, California, Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Oracle Corp. shares fell as much as 18 percent after Executive Vice President Gary Bloom quit Friday, the No. 2 computer-software maker's second loss of a senior executive this year.
Oracle fell $4.06 to $24.75 in late morning trading after dropping as low as $23.63, which cut about $29 billion from the company's market value. More than 50 million shares changed hands, the most in U.S. markets. The stock has lost almost half its value since touching a record $46.47 on Sept. 1.
Bloom left to run Veritas Software Corp. His exit follows the departure of Ray Lane, who quit as Oracle's chief operating officer in July after founder and Chief Executive Larry Ellison stripped him of most of his duties, both men have said. Since then, investors have worried that other senior executives might leave and that sales are slowing.
``Ellison is a difficult guy; visionaries always are,'' said Michael Holland, president of the Holland Balanced Fund in New York. He said he owns Oracle and may buy more at the stock's current price. ``It was oil and water between Ellison and Lane.''
Bloom, 40, is one of three Oracle executives who assumed most of Lane's duties, while Ellison took on the rest. Bloom, who ran the company's marketing, support and education divisions and a venture-capital fund, said he resigned because it was clear that Ellison didn't plan to step down any time soon as CEO. Bloom worked at Redwood Shores, California-based Oracle for 14 years, and investors and analysts considered him a top candidate to replace Ellison.
``That was a limiting factor in how much further I thought I could go at Oracle,'' Bloom said on a conference call Friday. ``Oracle is clearly under Larry's leadership.''
New Jobs
Bloom will replace Veritas Chief Executive Mark Leslie. Veritas, which makes software that keeps Web sites running, said Leslie, 54, will remain chairman. Lane is now a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a top Silicon Valley venture-capital firm.
Oracle's flagship database software lets companies manage and distribute vast amounts of information such as payroll, inventory and product data. Its software runs on a range of devices including network computers, personal computers, mainframes and handheld devices.
The company's rivals include International Business Machines Corp., BEA Systems Inc. and Ariba Inc. Microsoft Corp. is the world's biggest software maker.
Oracle's Ellison said Friday that Bloom's departure won't disrupt business at Oracle and that other senior executives had already taken over Bloom's responsibilities.
``We have tremendous depth of management at Oracle,'' Ellison said in an interview Friday.
The marketing division now will be run by Senior Vice President Mark Jarvis, Ellison said. The corporate-development division and Oracle's venture-capital fund will be run by Executive Vice President Safra Catz, a former investment banker at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc., Ellison said.
Nov/20/2000 11:27 ET
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