clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Here's Why Larry Ellison Was One of Silicon Valley's Best Interviews (Video)

Here's one of the reasons we'll miss having him around as Oracle's CEO: He's a fantastic interview.

Asa Mathat
Peter Kafka covers media and technology, and their intersection, at Vox. Many of his stories can be found in his Kafka on Media newsletter, and he also hosts the Recode Media podcast.

Larry Ellison is a big deal because, until today, he ran one of the world’s most important technology companies.

But he’s also a big deal because he carries himself like a big deal, which makes for very entertaining interviews: There’s no one around to tell Larry Ellison what he can and can’t say, so he says what he wants. When Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark in “Iron Man,” he’s channeling a lot of Larry Ellison.

Here’s exhibit A: An hour-long interview with Kara Swisher from the 2012 edition of the D: All Things Digital conference. Watch Ellison take on everyone from rival Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, former HP CEO Leo Apotheker and current HP CEO Meg Whitman; talk about his relationship with Steve Jobs; and discuss his own public persona: “I really should never talk about myself.”

Lucky for us that he did.

Here’s the short version:

And here’s the full interview:

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for Vox Recommends

Get curated picks of the best Vox journalism to read, watch, and listen to every week, from our editors.