Which Oracle co-founder served as the company's CEO until 2014?

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison served as the company’s CEO until September 2014.

Ellison helped establish Oracle in 1977 with Bob Miner and Ed Oates, initially under the name Software Development Laboratories. The company’s early work centered on commercial database software inspired in part by relational-database research. Its first product was marketed as Oracle, a name that eventually became the company’s corporate identity.

Ellison was Oracle’s long-serving public face and chief executive during its transformation from a database vendor into a major enterprise-technology company. Under his leadership, Oracle expanded through products, acquisitions, and competition with companies such as IBM, Microsoft, and SAP.

He stepped down as CEO in 2014, when Safra Catz and Mark Hurd became co-CEOs. Ellison remained deeply involved as executive chairman and chief technology officer. Bob Miner was a co-founder but did not serve as Oracle’s CEO through that period, while Catz and Hurd succeeded Ellison rather than co-founding the company.