SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is so immersed in his boating team’s stirring comeback in the America’s Cup that he backed out of giving the marquee speech at his software company’s biggest customer conference of the year.
Ellison skipped his scheduled appearance Tuesday afternoon so he could watch Oracle Team USA try to win its seventh straight race against Emirates Team New Zealand on the San Francisco Bay. The Oracle Corp. conference attended by about 60,000 people is being held at a convention center located about two miles from where the America Cup’s races finish.
Oracle Chairman Jeff Henley told the crowd that Ellison wouldn’t be appearing as planned so he could remain on a boat in the Bay to watch the 18th race of the competition.
