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Oracle Hires Ex-Microsoft Exec As Its CFO

Posted on: Friday, 24 June 2005, 12:00 CDT

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. - Business software maker Oracle Corp. on Friday tapped former Microsoft Corp. executive Gregory B. Maffei to be its new president and chief financial officer.

While at Microsoft from 1993 to 2000, Maffei worked closely with co-founder Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, who later became CEO. At Oracle, he will face yet another software titan in CEO Larry Ellison, who has a reputation for having a strong ego and mercurial personality.

Maffei's biggest challenge, however, will likely be the continuing integration of PeopleSoft Inc., which Oracle acquired this year for $10.6 billion. Oracle has promised the deal will raise its annual profit by at least $400 million in the fiscal year ending May 2006.

Maffei, 45, joins Safra Catz and Charles Phillips in the role of president, and the company said he will be responsible for the company's legal department, human resources, manufacturing and distribution, and global real estate.

He will take over as CFO next month, replacing Catz, who was filling the position on an interim basis after Harry You resigned in March to become CEO of the consulting firm BearingPoint Inc.

Maffei comes to Oracle from broadband company 360networks Corp., where he served as chairman and CEO.

Before that, he was CFO of Microsoft from July 1997 to January 2000. He left Microsoft six months after the company announced the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating its accounting practices. Microsoft settled with the SEC in 2002, promising to refrain from using improper procedures.

Maffei also served as chairman of Microsoft's travel Web site Expedia from 1999 until February 2002.

"Greg is an exceptional executive with a wealth of experience in the software and telecommunications industries," Ellison said in a statement.

Shares of Oracle rose 7 cents to $12.58, in early trading Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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