Oracle Corporation

The tiny firm Oracle hates

In the wake of the Oracle's $1.3 billion legal victory over SAP, the software giant is turning its guns towards another business trying steal away its lucrative customers.

It was clear from the beginning of its recently concluded trial against SAP that Oracle wasn't in it just for the money. It got that, though. A federal jury awarded Oracle $1.3 billion in damages stemming from SAP's (SAP) acknowledged copyright infringement of MORE

Oracle V. SAP: A Silicon Valley soap opera

Oracle v. SAP has all the makings of an industrial espionage flick -- a trash-talking CEO, a star litigator and high-profile witnesses. In sleepy Silicon Valley, those twists and turns have captivated everyone.

Contrary to its portrayal in the recent movie The Social Network, Silicon Valley is a pretty boring place. Restaurants close at 9pm. Billionaires wear jeans and dark-colored turtlenecks. And most people who hang out in downtown Palo MORE

Larry Ellison's surreal year

Larry Ellison is never far from the public eye, yet it's hard to deny that in 2010 the 66-year-old billionaire is having quite the moment. Even for him.

Consider Ellison's winning streak:

* Oracle's (ORCL) acquisition of Sun closed in January, a relatively long eight months after Oracle announced it. In  short order, however, Oracle's strategy of owning a hardware company with some storied software under the hood went from being ridiculed MORE

The Larry, Mark and Safra show at Oracle

Oracle's hiring of ousted HP CEO Mark Hurd sends two signals: Larry Ellison doesn't plan on calming his executive suite -- and IBM is even more in his sights.

On paper, everything is right about Mark Hurd becoming co-president of Oracle (ORCL). He is the operational yin to CEO Larry Ellison's innovative yang. Once the innovators of Silicon Valley looked down on the business people who knew how to  make budgets, MORE