The Oracle Corporation is an American global computer technology corporation, headquartered in Redwood City, California. The company primarily specializes in developing and marketing computer hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly its own brands of database management systems. In 2011 Oracle was the second-largest software maker by revenue, after Microsoft.

The company also develops and builds tools for database development and systems of middle-tier software, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, customer relationship management (CRM) software and supply chain management (SCM) software.

Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle, served as Oracle's CEO from founding. On September 18, 2014, it was announced that he would be stepping down (with Mark Hurd and Safra Catz to become CEOs). Ellison became executive chairman and CTO.[4] He also served as the Chairman of the Board until his replacement by Jeffrey O. Henley in 2004. On August 22, 2008, the Associated Press ranked Ellison as the top-paid chief executive in the world.