Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has a lot more on his mind these days than running the giant hardware and software company. Ellison’s love of sailing is no secret, but this year his Oracle Team USA racing team reached new heights of glory with an unprecedented come-from-behind victory over New Zealand, taking home the America’s Cup. The CEO was so eager to see his team’s climactic races that he ended up skipping a keynote he was supposed to deliver at Oracle’s OpenWorld conference, to the irritation of many customers. [ Larry Ellison in Pictures: It’s Good to Be The King ] [ America’s Cup 2013: Just another day at the office for Larry Ellison] Ellison wasn’t content with owning just a Hawaiian island. He wanted, and got, his own commercial airline as well. We assume he flies first class. Oh wait, Ellison bought a second one as well. [ Ellison’s Team Pulls Off Stunning America’s Cup Comeback ] Ellison’s love of Japan is well known, and he’s also got a penchant for collecting works of Japanese art. His collection reportedly includes several hundred pieces, more than 60 of which were on display this year at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. [ CIO.com Teardown: Oracle CEO Larry Ellison ] If there’s one aspect of Oracle Ellison is definitely paying close attention to, it’s the hardware business. Since Oracle bought Sun Microsystems it has de-emphasized commodity servers in favor of high-end boxes like Exadata, but hardware revenues continue to fall. Ellison is no doubt eager for the day when Oracle shows serious growth in hardware. Ellison may be one of the biggest stars in enterprise technology but his children, David and Megan, are making a name for themselves in Hollywood. Their production companies are behind hits like World War Z and Zero Dark Thirty. Ellison’s known for his outlandish spending sprees but his purchase of Hawaiian island Lanai may rank at the top. But he didn’t spend $500 million on the island just to sit on the beach. In fact, Ellison is planning to turn the island into a green technology research hub. Ellison loves beautiful women at least as much as he does fabulous homes, yachts and fast cars. Divorced a number of times, Ellison has been spotted in the company lately of actress and model Nikita Kahn. Ellison recently turned 69 and is hoping to live quite a bit longer, to the point where he’s funded the Ellison Medical Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on anti-aging research. Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP When natural disasters strike Japan, Ōita University’s EDiSON is ready to act With the technology and assistance of SAP and Zynas Corporation, Ōita University built an emergency-response collaboration tool named EDiSON that helps the Japanese island of Kyushu detect and mitigate natural disasters. By Michael Kure, SAP Contributor Dec 07, 2023 5 mins Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by BMC BMC on BMC: How the company enables IT observability with BMC Helix and AIOps The goals: transform an ocean of data and ultimately provide a stellar user experience and maximum value. By Jeff Miller Dec 07, 2023 3 mins IT Leadership brandpost Sponsored by BMC The data deluge: The need for IT Operations observability and strategies for achieving it BMC Helix brings thousands of data points together to create a holistic view of the health of a service. By Jeff Miller Dec 07, 2023 4 mins IT Leadership how-to How to create an effective business continuity plan A business continuity plan outlines procedures and instructions an organization must follow in the face of disaster, whether fire, flood, or cyberattack. Here’s how to create a plan that gives your business the best chance of surviving such an By Mary K. Pratt, Ed Tittel, Kim Lindros Dec 07, 2023 11 mins Small and Medium Business IT Skills Backup and Recovery Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe