Published on the 27/09/2013 | Written by Newsdesk
Despite the Oracle world conference currently being held in San Francisco, iStart’s source on the ground says founder and CEO Larry Ellison seems to have his mind firmly on his other pet project…
The Oracle Open World conference in San Francisco has attracted around 60,000 attendees, according to Oracle chairman Mark Hurd, but with the America’s Cup running longer than anticipated in San Francisco Bay, the two events ended up overlapping. Although Oracle CEO Larry Ellison (America’s third richest man with a net worth of $US41 billion according to Forbes magazine, behind fellow software tycoon Bill Gates and Warren Buffet) showed up for his opening keynote on Sunday evening, he stayed on the water on Tuesday afternoon to see Oracle Team USA square the series 8-8 instead of giving his second scheduled keynote.
That decision has been widely described as a snub to his customers, and it is hard to imagine many CEOs pulling a similar stunt.
A significant proportion of the attendees packed into the cavernous Hall D of the Moscone Centre must have been there specifically to see Ellison. As soon as Oracle chairman Jeff Henley announced that Ellison would not be attending they started filing out, leaving stand-in Thomas Kurian, executive vice president of product development, to give the presentation to a severely depleted audience.
Oracle Team USA went on to win the series on Wednesday afternoon, no doubt motivated by the mass “Go Oracle Team USA” cheer orchestrated by Hurd during his presentation and videoed for America’s Cup TV. Your correspondent noticed several people wearing Oracle Team USA shirts at Oracle Open World, but only one woman wearing an Emirates Team New Zealand shirt and she was definitely not looking as happy as Larry.
Ellison didn’t make a public appearance at the ‘Appreciation Event’ (ie, party) held on San Francisco’s artificial Treasure Island and featuring Maroon 5 and The Black Keys, at least not between your correspondent’s arrival and self-imposed curfew. But there was word that the Auld Mug would be displayed at the final keynote on Thursday morning, along with T-shirts for the first 1000 through the doors, though no mention of whether Ellison would or would not be there.
Make no mistake, Oracle Open World is a large event; the largest in the IT industry according to Hurd. As Oracle continues to acquire companies its annual conference grows bigger and bigger, and already spills out of the Moscone Centre into multiple city hotels, with the section of Howard Street between Moscone North and South closed to traffic and turned into a large alfresco meals and relaxation area for attendees.
San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee told attendees that the city is developing Moscone to keep pace with Oracle Open World, and offered to close additional streets if necessary. It is easy to see why San Francisco likes the conference: Oracle chief marketing officer Judith Sim said it has a $US120 million economic impact on the city. 60,000 attendees plus all those out-of-town Oracle employees spend a lot on accommodation, food and beverages, and shopping during the event. She also said that a partnership between the city council and the company will see the conference remain in San Francisco for 30 years.
Ambush marketing was less apparent than your correspondent has seen at other industry events in San Francisco. Salesforce.com had some modest outdoor advertising in the area around Moscone, while sky-writing to promote SAP attracted the attention of many attendees while they were enjoying lunch on a sunny Californian day. But Oracle branding seemed to dominate that part of San Francisco for the duration.
