Oracle Chief Says Firm Will Fall Short in Quarterly Profit

Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison said Monday that the company would turn in a profit of 9 to 10 cents a share for the fiscal second quarter, short of Wall Street expectations.

Oracle had said Sept. 18 that it would meet analysts’ forecast of 11 cents as it cut costs amid declining sales.

Shares of Oracle closed up 2 cents at $15.40 on Nasdaq, before Ellison’s comments.

Ellison said market conditions remain tough but that they will improve next year as customers buy new database software and other big business software that they have been delaying.

In a wide-ranging news conference at the Comdex computer trade show in Las Vegas, Ellison also sarcastically congratulated Microsoft Corp. for its “complete victory” in settling the federal antitrust case against it. Ellison said he was especially impressed that Microsoft executives could describe the settlement as an “intrusive” compromise while “keeping a straight face.”

In response to questions on other topics, Ellison said the wireless technology standard 802.11 had won out over rival Bluetooth.

He said Microsoft would have a difficult time luring software developers to its .Net operating environment from Java, referring to Microsoft’s plan as “.Not or .Nyet or .Notyet.”

In another poke at Oracle’s Redmond, Wash., rival, he said Oracle would encourage firms using 10 or more Microsoft e-mail servers to save money by switching to a single Oracle database.

Asked about the prognosis for his vision of a national standard and database for government-issued identification cards, Ellison said government officials were taking steps toward implementing such a program but that he was not at liberty to discuss details.