Life's a beach for Larry Ellison

Databases, middeware, applications, SOA, Project Fusion, mergers to the left and mergers to the right, and on and on and on and...on. And so it goes when you're the CEO of a Fortune 500 company and gunning to take the No. 1 spot in markets that you serve.

But, as they say, there is a time and place for everything--including working hard at play.

Oracle's founder and CEO is busy at work snapping up properties in Malibu Beach. In addition to the string of "cottages" he owns on the sandy shores of Carbon Beach, Larry Ellison also owns two restaurants he's rebuilding--one to dish up sushi and the other Italian fare.

Ellison, during a press conference following his keynote speech at Oracle OpenWorld, quipped he wanted a short seaside stroll between his house and good grub.