Channel Beat: Oracle's Disappointing Earnings, Microsoft's Executive Exodus

Oracle reported its earnings this week, closing out its fiscal fourth quarter with lower profit and revenue numbers than Wall Street predicted.

Oracle’s revenue dropped 5 percent year over year, and earnings dropped by 18 cents a share compared with the same quarter last year. Oracle shares dropped more than 6 percent in after-hours trading.

Despite those numbers, Oracle’s CEOs are trumpeting growth in cloud and Software-as-a-Service. Oracle expects total revenue growth of 5 percent to 8 percent during fiscal 2016.

This week Microsoft said that some longtime senior execs will be leaving the company, including Stephen Elop from the devices group.

Other include Kirill Tatarinov, Eric Rudder and Mark Penn. CEO Satya Nadella notified employees in an email posted to the company website. The email also included details of a reorganization around its development teams, which COO Kevin Turner will take over. The company also will strengthen its cloud and enterprise team, and form a new Windows and devices team.

And this week we saw a very different kind of security breach, with the FBI investigating whether the St. Louis Cardinals hacked into the internal networks of rival baseball team the Houston Astros.

According to The New York Times, the attack was not a sophisticated one, and the Cardinals gained access to a special database that contained information around personnel, scouting reports and trade discussions.

Solution providers said on the bright side, the attack should shine a light on competitive corporate espionage, which many say is underreported.

PUBLISHED JUNE 19, 2015