Oracle unexpectedly replaces CEO

Cloud and software giant Oracle is getting two new co-CEOs. Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia are taking over the leadership role together, replacing Safra Catz, who had led Oracle since 2014 – initially also as co-CEO and, since 2019, as sole CEO after the death of co-CEO Mark Hurd.

The new appointments come as a surprise, as there had not even been any rumors about them. Catz has been particularly successful in recent years. Oracle benefited massively from the AI hype with its data centers: Most recently, company-wide quarterly revenue rose unexpectedly sharply to almost $15 billion.

The cloud business in particular grew by 28 percent to $7.2 billion within a year. This includes leased servers for AI training. Together with OpenAI, Oracle is currently building huge gigawatt data centers.

Oracle's stock has risen by a good 80 percent in the past 12 months. The company is currently approaching a market capitalization of one trillion US dollars.

Change ahead of possible TikTok deal

Recently, there have been increasing reports that Oracle is at the heart of a revised US version of TikTok. Accordingly, the company could move significantly closer to the US government, which is negotiating with China about the TikTok platform remaining in the US. The timing of the new appointment is striking, to say the least. Oracle itself has not commented on the reasons for the new appointment.

Magouyrk has been with Oracle since 2014 and was previously president of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). Sicilia was previously responsible for the software side (Oracle Industries). He has been with the company since 2009.

Meanwhile, former CEO Catz is being given a soft landing: Oracle has appointed her as vice chair of the board. CNBC has also analyzed reports to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showing that Catz has sold $2.5 billion worth of Oracle shares this year alone. Share packages are part of the bonus packages of many publicly traded companies.

(mma)