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Oracle CFO Leaves after Four Months of Service

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the hot-seat-too-hot dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Oracle's CFO and Co-President Greg Maffei has quit. He will be succeeded by Safra Catz, who has been with Oracle for a while, and it will be interesting to see how long she lasts. Before Maffei, Harry You was CFO for 9 months, and before him was Jeff Henley. What's with the CFO shuffle at Oracle?"

22 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. Money by msbsod · · Score: 5, Funny

    CFO's earn so much that 9 months are enough for the rest of their life.

  2. CFO Leaving is bad news. by catwh0re · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When the CFO leaves, it's usually because they think they're in a sinking ship.

    1. Re:CFO Leaving is bad news. by Locke2005 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Or they want to leave before they get indicted. If a CFO leaves just before a quarterly report, it generally means he is resigning to avoid committing perjury by signing a report he knows to be false. I beleive this report was intentionally delayed also, which is further evidence that there might be statements in the report that nobody wants to sign their name to.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    2. Re:CFO Leaving is bad news. by l0ungeb0y · · Score: 4, Funny

      "When the CFO leaves, it's usually because they think they're in a sinking ship."

      Yeah, Oracles obviously in the direst of direly dire straights....
      I mean really rough times...
      Yes, the shio is sinking!

      I suspect Netcraft will confirm Oracles death any moment now.

    3. Re:CFO Leaving is bad news. by geekoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      well, if they are trying to create deceptive profit reports, that would be a good reason a CFO would leave. It would also indicate a problem with the company.

      Not saying they are sinking, but don't just assume there not having issues. Everyone thought Enron was in good shape, until the very last minute.

      Now we have Sarbanes Oxley, a good reason for CFO to not look the other way.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    4. Re:CFO Leaving is bad news. by queenb**ch · · Score: 4, Interesting

      High turn over in upper management means:

      1) Legal fears - criminal or civil

      2) Another C-level guy that no one can stand

      3) Company is tanking

      My personal vote is for #2 and I suspect his initials are L.E.

      2 cents,

      Queen B

      --
      HDGary secures my bank :/
    5. Re:CFO Leaving is bad news. by khallow · · Score: 4, Informative

      He spent 7 years at MS and 5 years as CEO of 360networks which tanked (he took it through bankrupcy court. So he doesn't have a flighty record or a record of bailing out when the going gets rough. If I were an Oracle shareholder, I'd want to know why Oracle can't keep CFO talent.

  3. One Word: by Doktor+Memory · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Larry"

    --

    News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.

    1. Re:One Word: by Scaba · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, no - they keep getting hired away by Hank Scorpio of Globex Corporation.

  4. CFO shuffle? by ral315 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "What's with the CFO shuffle at Oracle?" We didn't mean to cause any trouble; We're just doin' the CFO Shuffle.

    1. Re:CFO shuffle? by rob_squared · · Score: 4, Funny

      Please do not eat CFO Shuffle.

      --
      I don't get it.
  5. Not a good sign... by csmacd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    CFOs depart quickly because they see tyranical leadership, bad financial situation, or both. Sounds like there are some serious problems in Oracle's financial sector.

    --
    Don't pick up the pho*(@)$*@&@!@ NO CARRIER
  6. Dirty Kitchen by Deathbane27 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I imagine Oracle's financials are like a messy kitchen. Cleaning it doesn't sound like too bad of a job until you actually walk in and see it... Yes, I live in a bachelor pad.

    --
    If it ain't broke, it needs more features!
  7. Up close and personal with Biker Spike by wintermute42 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What's with the CFO shuffle at Oracle?

    Oh, nothing more than fear of doing jail time.

    Seriously, after Tyco, WorldCom and Enron, a CFO that is asked to support accounting that might be considered questionable bears some serious risks (as they should). The compensation just does not justify the risk of jail time. At least not for your typical CFO.

  8. Life at Oracle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Posting anonymously 'cause I still want a job...
    I've been consulting for Oracle for a couple years now and I'm not surprised by this. I get reorg'ed every three months at the minimum, I can't count the number of managers I've had since I've been working here - most know my name only by my expense reports. Every so often my cell phone rings and the voice on the other end says "Hi, I'm ****, your new manager." Why would it be any different in the adminisphere?
    I've worked for companies big and small over the years and while the job has its good points, the constant turnover isn't one of them

    1. Re:Life at Oracle by gentlemoose · · Score: 5, Informative

      I was with Oracle for 5 years. As I'm no longer with them, I don't fear for my job. AC up there, however, as an Oracle consultant, good call.

      Oracle reorgs its stovepipes annually, and there are divisional and departmental reorgs that shake out for months at a time in the aftermath of the larger reorgs. It happens. No big deal.

      Safra, I encountered once. Not.the.most.pleasant.experience.of.my.life.

    2. Re:Life at Oracle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I left Oracle as a sysadmin after only 2 months on the job in their flagship datacenter. The entire organization from the top down is ruled by fear. Fear of the guy above you. I was in constant concern for my job the entire time, not because I couldn't perform, but afraid that I would do something politically wrong. And I was just a sysadmin!

      It sucked, bigtime. Though they did have a crazy amount of servers and a whole buttload of technology.

      Everything was to be feared, however.

  9. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  10. Guilt by lucm · · Score: 5, Interesting
    One just can't buy an Oracle database license. Accountants, lawyers and engineers must be involved to find out what insane amounts you will have to feed the monster every year. Basically, it's cheaper to have a SQL Server 4-processor license than hiring the experts required to calculate your Oracle yearly premium for the same hardware.

    So my guess is that either the CFOs feel bad about selling incredibly overpriced products, or they just plain don't understand how the hell they can manage all these crazy contracts.

    When Microsoft licensing is the low-cost alternative to your product, there is something terribly wrong.

    --
    lucm, indeed.
  11. Error in article. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    > You was CFO for 9 months

    What? No I wasn't.

  12. Larry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    For some reason the CFOs have found it disturbing that Larry expects them to cut off their pinky if there are profit warnings :)

  13. Oracle CFO Leaves after Four Months of Service. by cgenman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oracle CFO Leaves after Four Months of Service.

    He must have finally gotten a database up and running.

    --
    The ______ Agenda