Ellison to put shares of NetSuite into lockbox

NetSuite Inc., a software maker controlled by Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison that has filed to go public, said Tuesday that Ellison had agreed to reduce his influence at the company.

The move addresses concerns that shareholders who invest in the initial public offering would not have had much say in how the company is run, given Ellison’s large stake in NetSuite.

Ellison will cede his voting rights and transfer his entire NetSuite stake, about 61% of outstanding shares, into a lockbox company to be administered by a third party, NetSuite said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

His children will still hold 13% of voting shares in NetSuite, which works in the rapidly growing market for business software accessed over the Web.

Some analysts said concerns about Ellison’s control had held up the company’s plan to go public, which it first disclosed July 2. They said Ellison’s relationship with the two companies would be particularly sensitive if Oracle, the world’s third-largest software maker, were to seek to acquire NetSuite.

“This tack that Larry Ellison has chosen is a rather astute way of circumventing issues that would have dominated roadshows and clouded the offering,” said Scott Sweet, managing director of research firm IPOboutique.com.

NetSuite spokeswoman Brooke Hammerling declined to comment on Ellison’s stock move. Officials with Oracle could not be reached.

Under the provisions disclosed in Tuesday’s filing, the manager of the trust that will hold Ellison’s stake will be able to sell shares only under a limited set of circumstances, primarily to donate them to charities. Ellison will transfer his 61% stake into the lockbox company and will lose the ability to appoint directors to the company’s board after NetSuite’s IPO.