Oracle announced that longtime CEO Safra Catz will be replaced by two new internal hires: Clay Magouyrk, 39, and Mike Sicilia, 54. The outgoing CEO described the two as “a match made in heaven”—two technical executives who can further propel Oracle into the AI era.
The move will marry veteran industry leadership from Sicilia with younger cloud-native expertise in Magouyrk. The latter is a founding member of the $920 billion tech firm’s cloud engineering team and Oracle named him president of cloud infrastructure in June 2025. Before joining Oracle in 2014, Magouyrk was a senior engineer at Amazon and Amazon Web Services. Sicilia joined Oracle after it acquired Primavera Systems in 2008, where Sicilia was chief technology officer. He later served as executive vice president in Oracle’s industries unit and in its global business units. In June, Oracle named him president in industries.
“I’m really looking forward to this stage,” said Catz during an investor call on Monday. “But it is absolutely time. You want to make a transition like this when things are great and when I’m handing it to two of the guys—actually a whole team—that brought Oracle here. This is ideal.”
In connection with their promotions, Oracle will give its Millennial and Gen X duo stock option grants valued at $250 million for Magouyrk and $100 million for the Sicilia. The leadership shakeup will also see Douglas Kehring promoted to principal financial officer at Oracle in the place of Catz. Oracle chief technology officer Larry Ellison will retain his CTO title and role as board chair.
“The company is being recognized as an innovator and leader in AI and our momentum has been nothing less than spectacular—and it’s only the beginning,” Catz told investors. “With this success in mind, Larry and I thought timing was perfect to recognize and promote several executives who have not only been instrumental in helping pivot the company, but who will be critical to leading us as we move forward.”
With the massive stock option grants, Oracle is incentivizing Magouyrk and Sicilia to stay with Oracle until at least 2029, with 80% of each grant vesting over four years. The remaining 20% will vest over a three-year period but they must achieve specific revenue metrics for the performance options to vest, although Oracle did not comment on or disclose the specific metrics. The grants will only pay off if Oracle’s stock price rises. An Oracle spokesperson declined to comment on the disparity of the grants between Magouyrk and Sicilia.
“Oracle is entering the AI era. I’ve never seen an opportunity on this scale before,” Ellison told investors on Monday. “The immense impact of AI across our economy is hard to grasp. The colossal size of the AI endeavor and the colossal size of the responsibility that goes along with it is difficult to imagine.”
Catz, meanwhile, will take on a new role as executive vice chair of the board. She has served as CEO of Oracle since 2014, when the board appointed Ellison chairman and CTO and named Catz and the late Mark Hurd as co-CEOs. Hurd took a leave of absence in 2019 and he died shortly after. Ellison did not name a co-CEO to replace Hurd.
On Monday, Catz said the timing for the CEO transition was optimal. Catz is currently in the process of talking with Oracle customers and “introducing them to Clay and Mike” if they don’t know them already, she said.
“Safra led Oracle as we became a hyperscale cloud powerhouse—clearly demonstrated by our recent results,” Ellison said in a statement. “In her role as Vice Chair, Safra and I will be able to continue our 26-year partnership—helping to guide Oracle’s direction, growth and success.”
Oracle’s stock is up 98% year to date, and earlier this month announced cloud infrastructure revenues were up 55% to $3.3 billion and that its pending contracts had ballooned 359% to $455 billion. Oracle told investors it had signed four multi-billion dollars contracts with three customers in a single quarter. The company projected 77% growth to $18 billion for cloud infrastructure revenue in fiscal year 2026 and a bullish fiscal 2030 projection of $144 billion. The company is hosting a major event next month in Las Vegas called “Oracle AI World” to exhibit its new products.
“A few years ago, Clay and Mike committed Oracle’s Infrastructure and Applications businesses to AI—it’s paying off. They are both proven leaders, and I am looking forward to spending the coming years working side-by-side with them,” Ellison said. “Oracle’s future is bright.”
