Wealth isn’t the same thing as intelligence
By Kathy Miller
智商并不等同于财富
他是世界上最大数据库软件公司的老板，他的产品遍布全世界。他是陌生的人，但谁都似乎无法离开他。埃里森在32岁以前还一事无成。读了三个大学，没得到一个学位文凭，换了十几家公司，老婆也离他而去。开始创业时只有1200美元，却使得甲骨文公司连续12年销售额每年翻一番，成为世界上第二大软件公司，他自己也成为硅谷首富。但世人知道，这期间他经历了多么漫长的人生奋斗历程。他就是拉里•埃里森。
埃里森是美国犹太人,俄罗斯移民，出生在1944年的曼哈顿,他的未婚妈妈只有19岁。埃里森由舅舅一家抚养,在芝加哥犹太区中下阶层长大，那时贫富的差别没有现在巨大。1962年埃里森高中毕业,进入Illinois大学就读,二年级时离开了学校。过了一个夏天他进入Chicago大学,同时还在Northwestern大学学习,虽然经历了三个大学，最终他没有得到任何大学文凭。关于学位,埃里森认为:“大学学位是有用的，我想每个人都应该去获得一个或者更多，但我在大学没有得到学位，我从来没有上过一堂计算机课，但我却成了程序员。”
Unshared success is failure
Being among the richest people on the planet, the CEO of an American multinational computer technology corporation purchased many properties, which are usually described as trophies. He has bought many houses, and each and one of them designed as a museum. His Woodside, California home, was modelled after the 16th century Japanese emperor’s palace. In 2012, he purchased 98% of the Hawaiian island of Lanai. He bought a sailing team and the Indian Wells tennis event, as well. All of these purchases show how wealthy this man is.
In the beginning, it was all black and white
The beginning of his life wasn’t quite good. His nineteen-year-old mother gave him up for adoption, so his aunt and uncle decided to adopt him. He grew up in a Jewish family, but stayed sceptic about religion. In one of his interviews, he said that Judaism dogmas didn’t interest him and that he didn’t believe in them. He also refused to have a bar mitzvah celebration. He was born in Bronx, New York, but grew up in Chicago. Later on, he moved to California, where he began his path to success. Being one of the richest and most successful people in the world, people would assume that he has a college degree. But, that is not the case with him. He had dropped out of college twice! Even though he did that, he still managed to find his way to the top. Nowadays, many people assume that college degree is a necessity for achieving what you want, but it seems that is not the truth. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg – are examples of people without college degree, but with a creative mind and innovative ideas!
A road to success
How did he become a co-founder of the world’s second largest software company?
He was interested in computer programming, so, over the years, before co-founding his own company, he had worked for different companies, such as Ampex, Amdahl Corporation, Fireman’s Fund and Wells Fargo & Company. While working for these companies, he had gained the experience that helped him become what he is today.
In 1977, he and his associates, Robert Miner and Ed Oates, were inspired by a research paper of the British computer scientist, Edgar F. Codd. The research paper was about relational database - which helps us understand how the computer system stores and accesses information.
Oracle
In 1979, he, R. Miner and E. Oates co-founded a company called Relational Software Inc., but it changed in 1982 to Oracle Systems Corporation after its flagship product, the Oracle Database. He heard about the IBM System R database, which was also based on Codd’s theories, and wanted Oracle to achieve compatibility with it. However, IBM made this impossible by refusing to share System R’s code. In 1990, his company had to lay off 400 people and it almost resulted in the company’s bankruptcy.
The Wall Street Journal called the CEO of Oracle the world’s highest-paid executive. Soon, the billionaire expanded his company by buying businesses that included Retek, PeopleSoft, Hyperion Solutions, Siebel Systems and Sun Microsystems. Oracle Corporation had grown rapidly, hiring 130,000 people and boasted annual gross profits of around $30 billion.
The ninth richest man in the world became a part of Apple Computer Company. He was hired by Steve Jobs. Unfortunately, in 2002 he resigned saying that his schedule didn’t allow him to attend enough of the formal board meetings to warrant a role as a director.
High stakes
In 2018, he entered the board of directors of Tesla. He had acquired a $1-billion stake in Tesla Inc., which made him the carmaker’s second biggest individual investor after his close friend, Elon Musk. According to Bloomberg, 1.75% stake makes him the second largest disclosed individual shareholder.
Life story
An American businessman, entrepreneur and a philanthropist once said that the greatest achievers were driven, not so much by pursuit of success, but by the fear of failure.
According to Forbes, he is the fifth richest man in California, and the ninth richest man in the world! He is the founder and the largest shareholder of Oracle, the database company that had revenue of $40 billion in 2018. Even though he is not the CEO anymore, he still owns 30% of the company. If you haven’t guessed who this billionaire is, this is the life story of Larry Ellison.
