Arik Hesseldahl

Recent Posts by Arik Hesseldahl

Oracle Co-President Safra Catz Adds CFO Duties as Jeff Epstein Leaves

Software giant Oracle said that co-President Safra Catz will take over as chief financial officer following the resignation of Jeff Epstein, who had reported directly to Catz. This will be her second stint as Oracle’s CFO. She held the position from November 2005 to September 2008.

“Safra already has the long-standing confidence of our employees, our board and our shareholders,” said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison in a company statement. “There is no more logical choice for CFO.” She joined Oracle in April of 1999, started serving as director in 2001 and became a president in early 2004 (and was joined in that position last year by former HP CEO Mark Hurd). She’s also a director at HSBC Group.

Oracle offered no elaboration on Epstein’s departure.

Catz’s most recent public duties included running Oracle’s quarterly earnings conference call last month, while Ellison served on jury duty.

Catz herself appeared in court not once but twice during Oracle’s intellectual property trial against SAP, and annoyed SAP lawyers with the “colorful analogies” she cooked up that were intended to make the point that Oracle deserved the $1.3 billion a jury had awarded it, not the $40 million SAP said it owed Oracle.

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Nobody was excited about paying top dollar for a movie about WikiLeaks. A film about the origins of Pets.com would have done better.

— Gitesh Pandya of BoxOfficeGuru.com comments on the dreadful opening weekend box office numbers for “The Fifth Estate.”