Sep 7 2010   4:37PM GMT

Phillips’ Oracle exit not a surprise to some

Posted by: badarrow
Barbara Darrow, Charles Phillips, IT channel products and technologies, Larry Ellison, Mark Hurd, Oracle, Safra Catz, Sun

Charles Phillips, who just resigned as co-president of Oracle,  helped that software giant acquire and integrate a whole lotta companies from PeopleSoft to Siebel to BEA to Sun Microsystems. He weathered an embarrassing scandal when his extramarital affair was outed –not just outed but OUTED  on gigantic Times Square billboards.

But personal pecadillos are not necessarily a hindrance at Larry Ellison’s Oracle. In fact, some wiseguys joked that Phillips’ affair might win him cred with his much-married CEO.

But Phillips did commit a faux pas in July when he broadcast a huge potential acquisition war chest. At a conference, he said that Oracle could spend up to $70 billion on acquisitions over the next five years.   Oracle PR subsequently tried to take that number back.

As soon as that kerfuffle errupted, some started speculating that Phillips was gone. For one thing, Bob Weiler, former CEO of Phase Forward, another Oracle acquisition, took over Oracle’s global business units, Wedge Partners analyst Ryan Hunter reported. That had previously been Phillips’ turf.

 Reports that Phillips would leave and Mark Hurd would join Oracle picked up steam last week and over Labor Day weekend.

Phillips resigned last night — and as of Tuesday morning, his picture and bio are already excised from Oracle’s executive bio page.  Info on Mark Hurd, who is joining Oracle as co-president (along with Safra Catz) is not yet posted but he is officially on board.

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