Oracle CFO Greg Maffei resigns after a short stint

IDG News Service - Oracle Corp. has lost its chief financial officer for the second time this year. The company said late today that Greg Maffei will leave later this month.

"Greg has told us he's looking at a terrific professional opportunity," said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison in a written statement. "We wish him well."

A former Microsoft Corp. executive, Maffei spent just four months at Oracle after joining the company in late June. He replaced Harry You, who left Oracle in March after eight months with the company. You departed to take over as CEO of services company BearingPoint Inc.

Oracle's CFO position has become a revolving door since longtime CFO Jeff Henley vacated the office in 2004 to become Oracle's chairman. Oracle said that Co-President Safra Catz will take over CFO duties as she did following You's departure. Oracle now intends for Catz to permanently fill the job and is not conducting a search for a new CFO, a company spokeswoman said.

Official confirmation of Maffei's departure came right after Wall Street analysts publicly questioned his absence at recent industry events. Oracle postponed a planned meeting with financial analysts last week, a delay Oracle Co-President Charles Phillips attributed at the time to family emergencies, and Maffei canceled a scheduled appearance at an investment conference hosted by The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

"We have grown increasingly convinced that there are legitimate questions regarding Mr. Maffei's status at the company," Goldman Sachs analyst Rick Sherlund wrote today in a note to clients.

Prudential Equity Group LLC analyst Brent Thill voiced similar concerns in his own research note. "Management has failed to give a consistent reason for [Maffei's] absence," Thill wrote shortly before Oracle announced Maffei's resignation. "We believe Oracle needs to confront the issue with a consistent message to avoid volatility in the stock and avoid the current speculation about his status with the company."

Oracle is losing its CFO at an awkward time. The rabidly acquisitive company has been gobbling up a steady stream of smaller software makers, and it's working to finalize its $5.85 billion acquisition of Siebel Systems Inc. The U.S. Department of Justice recently requested more details from Oracle about the deal, which Oracle hopes to close early next year.