Oracle Said To Delay Decision To Name Successor To Mark Hurd

A month after the death of Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd, Oracle's succession plan is to leave control in the hands of Chairman Larry Ellison and Hurd's fellow CEO Safra Catz while an internal successor is groomed, people familiar with the matter said.

While Ellison has put forth five candidates, none has emerged quickly as the front-runner to join Catz as CEO, and the company is likely to appoint someone president first - or at least give that executive more time to grow into the role, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the company's private deliberations. Oracle has considered promoting an executive with product or technical experience, one of the people said.

Hurd, Oracle's chief salesman, died in October after taking a short medical leave. Ellison, 75, and Catz, 57, have said they are splitting Hurd's duties. In September, Ellison promised to give five names to Oracle's board of executives who could one day be a "next-gen" CEO. He name-checked Steve Miranda, 50, executive vice president of applications development, and Don Johnson, EVP of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, as leaders who would grow over time.