Larry Ellison Attacks Apotheker Again, Lane and HP
It seems like Oracle’s Larry Ellison’s rage and fumes have not yet settled. He just fired another shot at Apotheker, dropping Lane’s name in every statement and trash-talking both SAP and HP.
Ellison was quoted Wednesday night and declared war against HP. His “Invent to Steal” remarks on HP’s tagline have harnessed negative reaction from the in and out of the industry. “HP Chairman Ray Lane has taken the position that Leo Apotheker is innocent of wrongdoing because he didn’t know anything about the stealing going on at SAP while Leo was CEO.
"The most basic facts of the case show this to be an absurd lie. Oracle sued SAP for stealing in March of 2007. Leo became CEO of SAP in April of 2008. Leo knew all about the stealing. In fact, Leo did not stop the stealing until seven months after he became CEO. Why so long? We’d like to know. Ray Lane and the rest of the HP Board do not want anyone to know. That’s the new HP Way with Ray in charge and Leo on the run. It’s time to change the HP tagline from ‘Invent’ to ‘Steal’.”
It’s clear. Ellison has lost his cool and let loose another outburst against Apotheker. Reviewing his previous statement, one would get the impression that he might also be taking it very personally that Lane, his former henchman in Oracle is now the chairman of its prime competitor, HP. Furthermore, Lane in many occasions has defended Apotheker against Ellison’s ammunitions.
To refresh everyone’s memory, Oracle has filed a lawsuit against world software services leader SAP because of some sort of technological theft. Since then, Ellison has been relentless in pursuing almost all things linked with SAP. Apotheker used to be SAP’s CEO. "The more Larry pounds on hp the more I’m convinced that he’s scared of HP," John Furrier uttered in relation to Ellison’s subsequent declaration of war.
Is Ellison threatened of the SAP-HP partnership as customer and client? Is he worried that Apotheker who built and solidified SAP for more 2 decades will close the gap in innovation of HP? Trash talking may just be Ellison’s way of arresting his fears.
