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Ellison prepared to pay for Cup glory Posted: Wednesday September 25, 2002 1:06 PM
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) -- Fortunes have been spent in pursuit of the America's Cup -- some vainly -- and all for the sake of a Victorian-era wine container that was bought for about US$200. San Francisco software billionaire Larry Ellison, bitten by the bug, has dedicated US$85 million, drawn from his personal fortune, to a campaign for the Cup in New Zealand this year. Ellison, the 58-year-old self-made founder of the Oracle corporation, ranks among the 10 wealthiest men in the United States and was briefly judged the richest man in the world in 2000. The company's profits have recently slumped but Ellison has said none of its money has been invested in the challenge -- "not a dime." Instead, he has taken a small part of his estimated US$23 billion fortune and constructed one of the strongest of nine teams from six countries which will challenge for the Cup in Auckland waters from Oct. 1. There is a necessary arrogance and a warming idealism in endeavors as bold as Ellison's -- projects which manage to be both ambitious and whimsical. And he will always have a place in America's Cup history for an attributed remark about Cup campaigning -- "it's cheap. I'm surprised more people don't do it." Money is probably no longer an issue for a man who was given up as a child by his unmarried mother and raised by an aunt in lower middle-class surroundings in Chicago. He attended the universities of Illinois and Chicago, leaving both without attaining a degree. He released his first version of the Oracle information management system in 1979, beginning with a US$2,000 investment and ending with a software empire. Ellison developed an early passion for sailing but for many years found the sport unaffordable. For a time and even when his fortune had been made, Ellison had no time for the sea. He came back to sailing in the mid-1990s when he was encouraged to build the maxi yacht Sayonara, designed by New Zealander Bruce Farr, and to form his Sayonara racing team. The yacht became the fastest maxi in the world and won four world championships with Ellison at the helm. Many New Zealanders have crewed on Sayonara and it might have been from them that Ellison derived his enthusiasm for the America's Cup. New Zealanders John Cutler, Mike Sanderson and Robbie Naismith are among the San Francisco-based Oracle Cup team -- 140 strong -- as are designers Farr and Russell Bowler. The team contains a similarly rich vein of talent from other countries, the world's top match racer Peter Holmberg from the United States and tactician Tommaso Chieffi from Italy. Ellison has been quoted as saying "I'm satisfying my curiosity to find out if we can engineer a boat and sail that boat well enough, better than anyone else in the world." He told Oracle shareholders: "There's no sailing team better than our sailing team and I don't think there's any boats faster than our boats." Despite having bought some of the best talent in world sailing, talent that was previously spread among many teams, Ellison may steer the Oracle boats himself during Cup races. He has said so and Holmberg and Cutler, his sailing principals, have confirmed his intention. "Larry is definitely going to drive," Holmberg said. "He's obviously quite a skilled sailor and at the right times he'll be driving." The Oracle challenge, because of its budget, its talent and the drive of its director, is considered one of the strongest among the nine challenge syndicates. While some point out money alone has not won the America's Cup, a budget of Oracle's dimensions is a great advantage. "I think the best thing about the money and especially the ability to get that funding early is you can get down on day one or two and plan out the whole project -- how many boats you will build and what people you need," said Cutler, who sailed with the America True syndicate at the last Cup in Auckland. "Sure it helps to have money but at the end of the day it's still a yacht race. There's probably a law of diminishing returns and a huge amount of money doesn't guarantee success." But Ellison is said to be confident of his Cup chances, so confident dockyard gossip has it that his new super yacht is said to have a special compartment to hold the Cup. Many of the wealthy men who have chased the Cup before Ellison have been similarly confident and have been disappointed. Asked what had made him launch his first Cup bid in the 1950s, Australian media mogul Sir Frank Packer is said to have replied "alcohol and delusions of grandeur." Not so Ellison. This is no starry-eyed escapade. He has a reputation for meticulous planning, for number crunching and for turning ideas to reality.
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