Larry Ellison in the news

Scuttlebutt editors review news stories each day that involve Ernesto Bertarelli and Larry Ellison, the two head honchos that are at the center of the current America’s Cup debacle. While the Bertarelli stories typically have something to do with sailing, the Ellison stories almost never do. Here are two Ellison issues that we are sooo tired of:

* Oracle Corp. co-founder Larry Ellison, the fourth-richest man in America, is drawing criticism from some shareholders for a $72-million pay package that is 12 times bigger than the median pay of chief executives in the technology industry. Ellison, who proposed the 38% raise and won approval from a committee of board members, is now the second-best-paid CEO of a public company in the U.S. He received about $1.7 million less than Merrill Lynch & Co. chief John Thain did in 2007. Oracle's market value is almost three times Merrill's. - Los Angeles Times, read on

Maybe his accrued wealth has something to do with this:

* A federal judge has ruled that Oracle Corp. destroyed or failed to preserve Chief Executive Larry Ellison's e-mail files sought as evidence in a class-action lawsuit filed in 2001 against the software maker, according to reports. The suit seeks damages on behalf of Redwood City-based Oracle shareholders who held the stock when it fell after the company reported disappointing results in 2001. The lawsuit claims Ellison and other Oracle executives made false statements about the company's financial condition as well as the functionality of its Oracle 11i suite of business management software, according to the reports. - Business Journal, read on