Larry Ellison, founder of software developer Oracle, was abandoned by his parents at birth and was raised by his great aunt and uncle. As a child, neighbors remember Larry as a "laundernaut," climbing into dryers in the nearby laundromat in order to spin. He was never one for academics and dropped out of college in favor of driving to cross-country California, where he discovered Silicon Valley - and pot. (Ellison has made it clear to the public that he himself did inhale on occasion.)
Despite an altered state at times, Ellison paved his road to riches smartly. Until 1977 he was a programmer at various computer companies. It was then that he and his friend Robert Miner started Software Development Laboratories, which later became Oracle. The 1980s were good years for the company, largely due to Ellison's extremely tough sales tactics. But it almost went bankrupt in 1990, as people found out that Oracle's salespeople had been reporting sales before they were really in.
After reinstating a clear policy of honesty, Ellison was able to bring Oracle back to the forefront of the business, but to this day his attitude is ruthlessly competitive. According to Time magazine, Ellison always uses very harsh language when discussing business. "He'll say, 'This is the quarter we put a knife in their chest,' or, 'The life will be choked out of them.'" Ellison's killer instinct clearly serves him well, as his company's market value is now greater than Time Warner's - but he doesn't want to stop there. His ultimate goal is to surpass Microsoft as the biggest and most recognized computer company in the world. According to Ellison, his motivation for such success is more theoretical than personal: "I'm more interested in beating Microsoft than I am in beating Bill Gates," he says. "I obsess on the personal computer and the industry, and I would love to see the age of proprietary computers end."
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