Larry to Harvard: Just kidding
Seems nothing's binding for Ellison without a court order.
Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison won't fulfill a pledge to donate $100 million to Harvard University, having lost interest after Lawrence Summers resigned as president of the school, an Oracle spokesman said.
Word of Ellison's reversal on the Harvard pledge comes a day after he announced plans to give $100 million to the Ellison Medical Foundation, which will funnel the funds to ``appropriate charities.''
That donation is unrelated to Harvard, Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger said yesterday. The foundation gift is tied to a San Mateo, California Superior Court settlement reached in November, requiring Ellison to give $100 million to charities and pay $22 million in attorneys' fees to settle a shareholder lawsuit.
It's interesting to compare the spokesman's comments yesterday with Ellison's remarks when he made the commitment:
Spokesman yesterday: ``There was never a formal agreement between Larry Summers and Larry Ellison.... It was a discussion.''
Ellison last year: “It’s absolutely going to happen...”
Kinda makes you wonder about this too:
The response from Larry Ellison at the time was that Oracle would support the products for as long as it made sense for customers to run them.
Is this a "formal agreement?"
Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison won't fulfill a pledge to donate $100 million to Harvard University, having lost interest after Lawrence Summers resigned as president of the school, an Oracle spokesman said.
Word of Ellison's reversal on the Harvard pledge comes a day after he announced plans to give $100 million to the Ellison Medical Foundation, which will funnel the funds to ``appropriate charities.''
That donation is unrelated to Harvard, Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger said yesterday. The foundation gift is tied to a San Mateo, California Superior Court settlement reached in November, requiring Ellison to give $100 million to charities and pay $22 million in attorneys' fees to settle a shareholder lawsuit.
It's interesting to compare the spokesman's comments yesterday with Ellison's remarks when he made the commitment:
Spokesman yesterday: ``There was never a formal agreement between Larry Summers and Larry Ellison.... It was a discussion.''
Ellison last year: “It’s absolutely going to happen...”
Kinda makes you wonder about this too:
The response from Larry Ellison at the time was that Oracle would support the products for as long as it made sense for customers to run them.
Is this a "formal agreement?"
posted by Mark Crofton at
8:31 AM
Subscribe
