Oracle CEO Ellison to sell $1.3 bn of shares

NEW YORK: Oracle Corp on Monday said Chief Executive Larry Ellison plans to sell $1.32 billion of his stock in the business software giant over the next 10 months.

Ellison will sell as much as 50 million of his Oracle shares starting no earlier than "late June," following the release of Oracle fiscal year 2010 earnings. Some of these shares may be acquired through the exercise of stock options.

The sales will be executed through what is called a "Rule 10b5-1" plan, an SEC-registered program for corporate insiders. Oracle said the sales are part of Ellison's "strategy for asset diversification and liquidity."

If he completes the sales, Ellison will still own about 1.13 billion shares, or 22.3 percent of Oracle's outstanding stock. Based on Oracle's Monday closing price, the 50 million shares are currently worth more than $1.32 billion.

(For the CEO, is it a real need to sell that much shares now? What do you think of that as a reader? Voice your opinion in the column below.)