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Strategies & Market Trends : MDA - Market Direction Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pater tenebrarum who wrote (48144)	4/26/2000 1:35:00 AM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 99985

Oracle's Larry Ellison catching up to Bill Gates in stock wealth By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (April 25, 2000 8:33 p.m. EDT nandotimes.com) - Even though Microsoft Corp.'s Bill Gates is still the world's richest man, he's in danger of losing his bragging rights within the computer industry. Oracle Corp. chief executive Larry Ellison, one of Gates' fiercest critics for years, is on the verge of becoming the computer mogul with the most wealth tied to his own company. Gates' stake in Microsoft was $51.5 billion, based on Microsoft's closing stock price Tuesday on the Nasdaq Stock Market of $69.37 1/2. Ellison's holdings in Oracle were worth $50.2 billion, based on Oracle's closing price of $75.56 1/4. Gates remains far ahead when wealth accumulated outside their respective companies is factored in, according to Forbes magazine, which annually ranks the world's wealthiest people. Gates holds at least $10 billion in assets outside Microsoft while Ellison owns a mere $200 million in property besides his stock in Oracle, the dominant provider of database software. Both Gates and Ellison are well ahead of stock market sage Warren Buffett, No. 3 on last year's Forbes list of the world's 400 richest people. Buffett is now worth about $28 billion. Ellison ranked 12th in Forbes' September 1999 rankings, with an estimated net worth of $13 billion. It was unclear where Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen ranked. He was second, with an estimated worth of $40 billion last September, but the magazine did not have an updated estimate for Allen, who has numerous private and public investments. The narrowing wealth gap between Gates and Ellison, based on their company holdings, is symbolically important and probably a matter of personal pride for both men, according to industry analysts. "I'm sure Larry is very happy about what is happening," said Joshua Greenbaum, a Berkeley, Calif. analyst who has followed Oracle since the 1980s. "Larry is an intense competitor and he can't help but look at this at proof that he is winning the battle to become a major player in the New Economy while Microsoft might be headed toward the second tier." Ellison, 55, wasn't available for interviews this week, according to representatives at Oracle's headquarters in Redwood Shores, Calif. Ellison has been open in his contempt for Microsoft, publicly describing Gates as a copycat whose bullying business tactics stifled technological innovation. Ellison also has predicted that Microsoft would become less relevant as businesses increasingly move from self-contained operating systems to computer networks. Oracle's stock has soared by 428 percent in the past year as investors applauded its emphasis on selling "e-business" software and strategies to corporate customers. In contrast, Microsoft's stock has plunged by 21 percent over the same period as the specter of a government-ordered breakup looms.