Larry Ellison Resigns From Apple's Board, Cites Time Commitment

[ Update: The story below has been updated with information concerning Larry Ellisonis yacht racing.]

In a surprise announcement, Apple said today that Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has resigned from Appleis Board of Directors. Mr. Ellison is a close friend of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and was one of the first people that Mr. Jobs personally added to Appleis Board. The terse press release issued by Apple cites time commitment issues as being responsible for Mr. Ellisonis resignation. That release:

Apple today announced that Lawrence J. Ellison, chairman and chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation, is resigning from Appleis Board of Directors.

"I will continue to offer my advice to Steve and the executive management team at Apple, but my schedule does not currently allow me to attend enough of the formal board meetings to warrant a role as a director," said Ellison.

"Larry has served Apple shareholders well as a director during the past five years," said Steve Jobs, Appleis CEO. "Weire looking forward to benefiting from his counsel on an informal basis going forward."

One of Mr. Ellisonis passions is yacht racing, and it is rumored that he is preparing for another run at Americais Cup in 2003. From a Forbesi article:

"As anyone who owns a sailboat on San Francisco Bay can tell you, Ellison is spending a lot of time driving sailboats right now," says Soundview Technology analyst Mark Specker. "He doesnit want anything to come between him and the Americais Cup."

Yacht racing is often considered a time-intensive sport. The same Forbesi article says that Larry Ellison attended fewer than 75% of Appleis board meetings in 2001, supporting his claim of not having enough time.

You can find more information on Mr. Ellison at Oracleis Web site. Appleis Web site offers more information on its Board of Directors. Mr. Ellisonis information has been pulled from that page. Also of note, Appleis Board of Directors currently only includes 5 people:

Bill Campbell
Chairman and former CEO
Intuit Corp.

Millard Drexler
President and CEO
Gap Inc.

Steve Jobs
CEO, Apple
CEO, Pixar

Arthur D. Levinson, Ph. D.
Chairman and CEO
Genentech

Jerry York
President and CEO
Micro Warehouse