I recently read the book "Softwar" by Matthew Symonds and Larry Ellison. It is about Ellison and how he co-founded Oracle (ORCL, Financial), one of the largest software companies ever.
"Softwar" is a true story of how Ellison grabbed life by the horns taking on massive challenges and obstacles on his way to creating Oracle. The book is filled with Ellison's life lessons, great quotes and wisdom.
I learned many important things from this book, but I found this quote to be most useful: “People — teachers, coaches, bosses — want you to conform to some standard of behavior they deem correct. They measure and reward you on how well you conform — arrive on time, dress appropriately, exhibit a properly deferential attitude — as opposed to how well you do your job. Programming liberated me from all that. I could work in the middle of the night. I could wear blue jeans and a T-shirt. I could ride my motorcycle to work. And I’d make more money if I could solve the problem faster and better than anyone else.”
This quote is important because of its rationality. In the book "Poor Charlie's Almanack," Charlie Munger (Trades, Portfolio), vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, Financial) (BRK.B, Financial), tells the story of how an attractive woman sat next to him and asked him to what he owed his success; she insisted that it had to be boiled down to one word. Munger's response was “Rational.” There is a strong relationship between the sentiments of these two billionaire giants.
You learn throughout the book just how relentless Ellison is when he describes his competition with Bill Gates (Trades, Portfolio). "Once I’m finally certain of the right direction," he wrote, "I pick a fight, as I did with Gates. It helps me make my point, and it makes it impossible to do an about-face and go back. Once a course has been plotted, I sail a long way off and burn my boats. It’s win or die."
We also learn how he sailed directly into a hurricane in 1998 in the Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race, demonstrating that Ellison truly defies death.
Oracle became a Fortune 500 company in 1996 with a ranking of 417. The company is currently ranked 81st among the top Fortune 500 companies. Oracle has been on the Forbes Top 100 list for five consecutive years, according to fortune.com.
Here is a closer look at Oracle.
Oracle has a market cap of $165.2 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.03, an enterprise value of $151.76 billion and a dividend yield of 1.45.
Here below is a Peter Lynch chart for Oracle.
A few things I really like about Oracle are:
The book value has been on a steady increase over the past 10 years, growing at 17.95% over that time span.
Ellison is a rational, vigilant leader who emphasizes simplicity.
Oracle's total revenues with its Cloud have been increasing 28%, according to its investor relations link on the company's website (www.oracle.com).
The dividend yield is close to a 10-year high.
The company is easy to understand and has been a Fortune 500 company since 1996.
There are many lessons to be learned from Ellison. "Softwar" is recommended to anyone who has a thirst to learn from one of the most successful men in software history.
Cheers to your investment success.
