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For the second time this month Larry Ellison has made a high-profile claim that he may buy Apple Computer and reinstall his "best friend" Steve Jobs at the helm of the ailing computer maker.
Apple declined to comment on the Oracle CEO's apparent interest in forming an investor group to put together a US$1 billion takeover bid. "We never comment on rumor or speculation," said spokeswoman Katie Cotton.
Ellison, in an interview in Thursday's San Jose Mercury News, said if he took the reins he would dump Apple's current board of directors, including CEO Gil Amelio, who was hailed as a turnaround king when he came to Apple in early 1996, but so far has announced little more than layoffs and losses. The company reported "surprise" losses of $816 million in the fiscal year ending September 1996.
In the story, Ellison portrayed himself as a savior for Apple - ready to come to the rescue of the troubled company, although calls to Oracle failed to produce any details on what his plans for Apple may be. In a similar article published by Fortune earlier this month, Ellison was quoted as saying: "Steve (Jobs is) the only one who can save Apple."
Jobs, however, has repeatedly said he isn't interested in exercising greater influence in the company he founded. Since December, when Apple purchased NeXT, which Jobs also founded, Jobs has played an advisory role.
Analysts were baffled by Ellison's comments. "He may have an inkling of what is going on in Apple's R&D [or he may be] trying to fight the Wintel cartel," said Barry Bosak, an analyst at Smith Barney. "He wants people to be able to access his corporate data bases and his agenda could be to keep the world broader rather than narrower."
Ellison's purported goal was to gauge reaction by Apple investors by spilling the beans before buying 60 percent of the stock - at current prices. But the stock has already gone up two points (to 18 5/8) since the story came out.
