Oracle chairman Larry Ellison, never shy about attacking rival Microsoft, has volunteered a somewhat unusual solution to what he sees as the company's monopoly.
"They should split the company into two and let [Microsoft president] Steve Ballmer run one company and let Bill Gates run the other," Ellison said at a conference on Monday when asked what should be done if the DOJ wins its antitrust trial against the software giant.
"Then give them both access to all the company's software, and let them go head to head."
Ellison made the statements at the NationsBanc Montgomery Securities technology conference in San Francisco, where he was promoting Oracle's (ORCL) new 8i appliance, a challenge to Microsoft's Windows NT.
Although Ellison was not the first to suggest that Microsoft be split into two or more companies, his proposal for creating two identical companies to compete against each other runs counter to the prevailing view that the company should be divided up by its parts.
But Ellison said that two smaller Microsofts both going after the same business would be a better way to restore competition in the software industry. He suggested the Justice Department might also consider barring each company from making any acquisitions for five years.
Not that Ellison would concede that any Microsoft monopoly had been successful. His comment about creating two Microsofts came in the midst of lengthy remarks about how the software giant still failed to recognize the importance of the Internet, and how Oracle was enjoying a robust business exploiting new Internet-related opportunities.
Earlier, in an address to a group of investors, Ellison boasted that computers running Oracle software are used to run nine of the top 10 e-commerce sites, and said the company is seeing strong interest in its forthcoming 8i database appliance, which claims to offer more seamless connections to the Internet.
Ellison said that Dell had agreed to sell the 8i, once known by the code name Raw Iron. Oracle already announced a similar deal with Hewlett Packard, and is working on partnerships with IBM and Compaq.
Oracle is promoting the 8i as a cheaper, simpler, more stable replacement for large operating systems like Windows NT or Unix.
Ellison said that he expects Oracle's stock price to be driven by a growing acceptance of the Internet, and a growing realization of how it is transforming business.
"I think it is still not appreciated how much the Internet is going to change everything," Ellison said. "What strikes me is the Internet stocks that have gone up the most are the ones of companies focused selling to consumers, when most of the money made in our country comes from businesses selling to other businesses."
Copyright© 1999 Reuters Limited.
