Oracle Appoints Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia as Co-CEOs in Major Leadership Shakeup

Oracle replaced Safra Catz, who played a key role in developing the company’s cloud strategy and propelling it to the forefront of the ongoing AI boom with significant contract wins, with insiders Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia as co-CEOs on September 22.

During her 11 years in charge, Catz transformed Oracle from a database provider into a cloud powerhouse by vigorously vying with Alphabet and Microsoft for a piece of the profitable data centre industry, which helped increase Oracle’s market valuation to almost $1 trillion. According to Oracle, Catz will continue to serve as the vice chair of the board.

Like Oracle, Tech Companies Focusing on Cloud Computing

The two executives’ promotions highlight Wall Street’s and the tech sector’s emphasis on cloud computing strategy, as businesses invest billions of dollars in building up the infrastructure that supports artificial intelligence. In his current position, Sicilia, 54, is in charge of cloud-based apps and artificial intelligence (AI) products, and Magouyrk, 39, is in charge of Oracle’s cloud infrastructure platform, which underpins these apps.

“Investors are already familiar with both Mr Magouryk and Mr Sicilia, and their promotions solidify the importance of the Cloud and Industry businesses as the growth levers for the company,” Evercore ISI analysts wrote in a note. “The bottom line is that with Larry remaining at CTO and Safra as Executive Vice Chair, we expect a smooth transition in the near term.”

 According to Reuters, Oracle is currently at the centre of high-profile talks to keep TikTok running in the US. All user data will be held on Oracle-run cloud computing infrastructure in the US.

Additionally, the company pushed the stock to record highs by reaffirming its financial estimate earlier this month, which stated that it expected booked revenue at its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure unit to surpass half a trillion dollars.

Oracle Partnering with OpenAI

According to reports, Oracle and OpenAI have inked one of the largest cloud agreements in history. The ChatGPT manufacturer is anticipated to purchase $300 billion worth of computing capacity from Oracle over a five-year period.

A key player in Oracle’s numerous acquisitions, Safra Catz assumed the company’s top position in 2014 alongside the late Mark Hurd after Ellison chose to leave running the day-to-day operations of the business.

The company’s stock has increased more than 586% during her tenure. According to Forbes’ real-time net worth tracker, Catz has established herself as one of the most powerful female CEOs in the tech sector, with a net worth of $3.3 billion.