Oracle is still far behind in cloud infrastructure. In 2023, Amazon controlled 39% share of market, followed by Microsoft at 23% and Google at 8.2%, according to industry researcher Gartner. That left Oracle with 1.4%.

But in database software, Oracle remains a stalwart. Gartner estimated that the company had 17% market share in database management systems in 2023.

Ellison's challenge is to find opportunities for expansion.