Ellison's salary drops to $1

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will receive a base salary of $1 for fiscal 2010, according to a regulatory document filed Friday.

That's a decrease of $999,999 from last year. But Ellison won't exactly be starving. He is the world's fourth wealthiest person, according to Forbes.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

And according to Oracle's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ellison's base pay of $1 million in fiscal 2009 only accounted for 1.2 percent of his total compensation anyway. Ninety-seven percent was in the form of stock.

Still, Ellison's new $1 base pay puts him on the salary pedestal with the likes of Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

"The compensation committee recognizes that Mr. Ellison has a significant equity interest in Oracle, but believes he should still receive annual compensation because Mr. Ellison plays an active and vital role in our operations, strategy and growth. Nevertheless, during fiscal 2010, Mr. Ellison agreed to decrease his annual salary to $1," Oracle said in the filing.

Oracle's fiscal 2010 began June 1.

Ellison, who is 64, founded Oracle in 1977. According to the SEC filing, he owns 1.18 billion shares of Oracle, or 23.4 percent of the company's total stock.

[monkeyfun14]

The $1 salary is really nothing more then a attempt to make the person look good people tend to forget that people who take these salaries usually have billions horded in bank accounts and or huge stock options.

[cvaldes1831]

Nobody who follows tech will be buffaloed into thinking that Larry is doing this for altruistic purposes. He's saving money.

[TinyIoda]

actually its more about tax exemption status.... they make millions on their stock investments in their companies... why be taxed on a salary that adds nothing to your total wealth

[Stormspace]

True. Salaries are taxed much higher than investment income and bonuses. He's saving money.

[jaguar717]

$1 salaries don't fool anybody...they're symbolic. It's a way to tie exec's pay directly to the company's future performance.

And who exactly are they "hording" their earnings from? People like you who didn't earn it?
The very idea of hording implies you believe there's a fixed amount of wealth out there when what separates guys like him from you is that they create wealth instead of simply demanding it be confiscated and shifted around.

[hankthedwarf]

Poor guy. Oracle should have a Paypal donation button for him at the top right hand corner, with a picture of Larry dressed as a hobo with his pockets turned inside out.

[Inconnux]

is he worth that much?

[cvaldes1831]

The article points out that his Forbes ranking is #4 in the world. So yeah, he's rich.

He owns 1.18 billion shares of Oracle. With the $0.20 dividend per share, he makes $230 million a year twiddling his thumbs.

[topgunb2]

He built oracle as a company didn't he, if anyone had that capability , he would be worth that as well.

[BingItOn]

He should return all the stocks he owns and he does not even deserve $1.

[EvanSei]

look at him being so responsible, wait how much of a cut is a taking 1.2% you say you prick.

[mkgmkg3]

A person takes a risk, starts a company, becomes a success and then gets morons who want to put him down for working hard and making a lot of money. His taking a $1 salary is something many corporate founders have done to help keep their companies healthy. A million dollars was still a pittance salary for a company the size of Oracle.
Since when did it become a crime to be rich and successful? Is everyone in the world now trying to just become mediocre and seek handouts?
I wonder if the near 75,000 people employed by his company would see his success as being a terrible thing? I wonder if the near $3.6 billion in local, state and federal taxes paid annually by Oracle and its employees would also be considered a bad thing? Were it not for Ellison's creation of the company, these jobs and that revenue would not exist.
No matter the rest of his contributions to the world, those jobs and that tax base certainly seem to be quite an achievement in today's economy.

[cvaldes1831]

There's nothing wrong from being successful. Warren Buffett is a fine example of a hard-working, relatively humble man who earned his way to the top.

Larry's a big friggin' jerk. Larry himself did not have the super-duper pedigree like trust fund baby Bill Gates but at least he was a complete ****** compared to Warren.

[scrubbingbubbles]

Do the checks on the come bi-weekly?
Oh and the poor guy made $500 Milly in fiscal 2008. He took a much bigger hit in fiscal 2009.

[Mr. Dee]

The devil is in the details. If you know what I mean. <wink,wink>

[cvaldes1831]

No, please elaborate. And be very, very specific. Please cite publicly-accessible documentation that illustrates your points. Something that the DOJ could use.

Thanks.

[jonathan0766]

Thank god for Oracle. I suppose some of you would prefer these great software, sales, marketing, advertising, etc. jobs were in China instead, just so Ellison would be poorer. He may be a jerk, but he deserves every penny he has earned, Oracle has more than returned that wealth many times over to investors and America in general courtesy of the massive productivity gains Oracle's relational database software (and now business software) has provided. Do some research on Ellison having been smart enough to see the opportunity presented by database technology courtesy of some IBM white papers. The efficiency gains in our economy from that singular action have been probably worth trillions over the last three decades.

We need all the billionaires we can get. Assuming we're still a free nation with a free market economy, that remains a good thing.

[oldfoxbob]

The man is no dummy,,,,he now has NO tax's to pay. Tax on one dollar is exempt. His Stocks are not considered Income, until he sells them and there are a lot of loop holes in the tax laws to help him avoid any income tax at all. So in other words he now has a non taxable income and his money is free. Must be nice to have that type of income and smarts enough to get away with jipping the country out of the tax thing.

[jaguar717]

"Jipping the country"? First off, it's "gyping".

Second off, what has a parasite like you done to deserve a chunk of his earnings? You sound like some socialist politician, pigging out at the public trough like you're entitled to a 50% cut every time someone does something productive.

This guy alone pays more taxes every year than you will your entire life, and that leaves out the even huger quantity Oracle pays which wouldn't be there if he hadn't built it up. But keep attacking the producers until Atlas decides to shrug...

[topgunb2]

how about blaming frigging politicians who can't fix loopholes in tax laws, why blame larry?

[SaneMind]

<i>"Jipping the country"? First off, it's "gyping".</i>

@ jaguar717 Its "gypping" ...

[gerbercon]

If a CEO steps up and says he's only going to accept $300,000 annual income, and postpone stock options for 5 years, it might be more believable.
Stock options always cost the shareholders money, but they don't mind when the stock is liquid and the price is rising.

[Renegade Knight]

They shouldn't be given stock. It leads to short term thinking. Good to turn your stock bonus into wealth in the short run but not good for shareholders in the long run. Better to give them a salary. As for $1.00. If my work ever hit the level where I'm only worth paying a buck...I'd of been shown the door.

[jaguar717]

Just to be clear: stock options which are worthless for *years* and even then only let him sell at that *future* price lead to "short term thinking", but cutting him a check *now* is better?

[notabusinessman]

I am glad to see him build his company up so big. He just made alot of wise decisions. 1.18 billion shares of Oracle at $22 dollars a share. He could care less about the salary. I am sure he needs to stay on as salary for tax purposes. As for all the money he has made, it is inspiring to know that people can still achieve such great accomplishments in life.
I don't see that he did anything wrong with cutting his salary. I don't feel the media needs to take it and spread it across the globe. I feel there are bigger issues that need to be covered. They don't talk about all the contributions that these people make. I make less than 50k a year and I complain about about taxes with the little money that I make. If he can figure a way to cut his taxes a little more, more power to him.