Since Hurd joined Oracle in September 6, 2010, Oracles quarterly revenue has been between 8.5 and 11.32B. Its peak was in May of 2014, before the pivot to the cloud at 11.32B. It has not returned to that peak since and it will not again.
Hurd and Catz (former CFO) are numbers people. They are good a t working balance sheets and minimizing costs. Neither of them are technical innovators. The innovator, the visionary behind Oracle is Larry Ellison.
On Sep 18, 2014 Larry Ellison offically stepped down as CEO, leaving Oracle to the "Hurding of Catz." These two do what numbers people do. They cut costs, the invest in something with secure ROI. They do not invent, they purchase companies that invent and add them to the portfolio. Then they squeeze the profits for as much as they can.
They are not technical innovators, in and industry lead by technical innovators. Since 2014 they key indicators of company health... revenue (not earnings) have dropped. To keep the ratio of stock price to earnings high they have to cut expenses. The PE ratio is what wall street watches.
Basically they begin to burn the furniture to keep the house warm. Instead of keeping innovators, they replace expensive labor with cheap labor. Its what they do. Its what they have been trained and hired to do. They are not technical, they are not innovators and they are the leaders of the great technologies known as Oracle.
Can you name one innovative technological firm that has achieved great success, that has been lead by accountants? What great innovative technical company as a startup that has been acquired by another company lead by accountants that has flourished?
Where is the innovative technical leadership in Oracle? Who is it? What is going to drive revenue to Oracle? What product is the brain child of a technical innovator at Oracle? The database? Yes... that is Larry's baby. Where is Larry now? What is happening to Oracle?
Watch the numbers game play out. Because that is all that the leadership at Oracle can do. The numbers are important and finance has its place. But finance never innovates. Finance cuts costs and manages cash flow. It does not generate revenue.
Watch the revenue numbers.... see for your self. And watch it continue to decline, while magically earnings per share go up.
https://ycharts.com/companies/ORCL/revenues