Larry Ellison

America's Cup: Sailor Refers to Boats as "Godforsaken Deathtraps"

The off-the-water element of the America's Cup has been the antithesis of smooth sailing. Mayor Gavin Newsom and the "city family" pushed a series of fiscally disastrous deals with Larry Ellison -- only for the yachting billionaire to pull the plug on the cusp of all-but-certain approval by the Boar ... More >>

America's Cup: Losing Millions Is the Exact Scenario We Were Warned About, Repeatedly

The news over the weekend that the city could be left holding the bag for millions the America's Cup Organizing Committee has failed to provide is a revelation in the same sense that it's revelatory that promiscuous couples in horror films tend to be killed off. The very real possibility of San ... More >>

America's Cup: Larry Ellison's Oracle Team Fined for Spying on Italian Team

Larry Ellison's Oracle team has taken another tumble after being slapped with charges of espionage on a rival team. While spying isn't unusual in the America's Cup, a international jury of sailing experts concluded that Ellison's sailing team went a little too far when they sailed a little too clo ... More >>

Warriors Arena: 13 Percent Interest Rates Assailed as "Outrageous"

For those without clear memories of the 1970s, the specter of double-digit interest rates on loans is something one would likely associate with a dead fish being left on your doorstep. There'll be no fish-based payment reminders in the ongoing effort between the city and Golden State Warriors to ere ... More >>

America's Cup: "Team USA" Devoid of Americans

Glancing out the window here at SF Weekly, a graceful AC45 catamaran featuring a large tricolor on its sail was just towed toward today's race. Apparently, we are supposed to root against this French interloper into San Francisco's waters, and put our efforts into cheering for the "hometown" squad, ... More >>

Reddit Island: This Is What That Nerd Enclave Would Look Like

Reddit Island sounds like a tech nerd's wet dream: a self-made civilization that requires nothing to live except super-high-speed Internet and tons of weed. But in the unlikely event that Redditors actually get their shit together to take refuge on this island where nobody will have to pay taxes (ak ... More >>

Larry Ellison's Plans to Buy Part of Hawaii Approved

Last week we told you that Oracle CEO and obnoxious bajillionaire Larry Ellison had big plans to purchase part of Hawaii -- and we weren't kidding. According to press reports, the sale went through yesterday, and Ellison will officially own 98 percent of the island of Lanai by the end of the week. T ... More >>

Larry Ellison to Buy Part of Hawaii

Because being an obnoxious bajillionaire wasn't satisfying enough, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has decided to buy majority of the "Pineapple Island" in Hawaii.Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie told the Associated Press that Ellison is in the process of purchasing 98 percent of the island of Lanai from its ... More >>

America's Cup: Everyone Lowers Their Standards

Barring unforeseen circumstances -- Chris Daly, a rain slicker, and a longshoreman's hook -- the Board of Supervisors today will give its blessing to the pared back America's Cup plan. This supes probably would have approved the Cup's glitzy prior iteration, which would have cost the city up to $136 ... More >>

America's Cup Considering New York City For August Race; NYC Surprised to Hear of It

​The America's Cup will grace San Francisco not once, not twice, but thrice, citizens were promised: before  catamarans race for the main Cup currently held by Larry Ellison's Oracle team in 2013, there will be smaller World Series races in October and in August, according to plans the race e ... More >>

Jack Sparrow Not Included

America's Cup: Rollout of the "We Screwed Up!" Storyline Under Way

​The San Francisco Chronicle today continued to thump the tub Supervisor Mark Farrell and others wheeled out last week. It's the "San Francisco and its Board of Supervisors screwed up the America's Cup deal because we're an insufferable, NIMBY city that ruins everything" tub.Well, we are pretty in ... More >>

America's Cup: SF Weekly Reporter on the Air

​This week, the evolving America's Cup deal underwent a sea change. A proposal to reimburse Larry Ellison's America's Cup Event Authority to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars via long-term leases for waterfront property was abruptly curtailed; now the city and race organizers are wrangli ... More >>

America's Cup: Rancor Over Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! Easier than Real Analysis

​With the pricey former America's Cup deal now residing in the vicinity of Davy Jones' Locker, it's high time for the types of folks who comment frequently on the SFGate webpage to decry San Francisco blowing a "golden opportunity" for some "economic revitalization." Supervisor Mark Farrell -- als ... More >>

America's Cup: What the Hell Just Happened?

​In around an hour's time, the Board of Supervisors would have likely approved a sprawling America's Cup development plan that would have committed the city to reimbursing Larry Ellison's Event Authority up to $136 million -- perhaps into the 22nd century. Instead, the city and race organizers yes ... More >>

America's Cup: Showdown Set for Today

​Nautical metaphors and strife are on the agenda this afternoon for the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee hearing. The supes will, for a second time, discuss the evolving America's Cup deal. The development agreement for the Cup is due for an up or down vote by the entire board on ... More >>

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Catch the First Glimpse of Oracle America's Cup Team Next Week

​While we still have two years before the madness of the America's Cup truly descends on San Francisco, you can still get a taste of what we'll be seeing next week. Larry Ellison's ORACLE Racing team will begin practicing out on the Bay, using two 45-foot long wingsail catamarans to cut through th ... More >>

America's Cup: Ball Is Now in City Attorney's Court

The material everyone wants to have...​What are "material changes?" The answer is not immaterial.In tweaking the America's Cup agreement signed off by the Board of Supervisors, the mayor's office was entitled to make changes -- but not material changes.After analyzing the revamped deal, the board' ... More >>

America's Cup: Gavin Newsom's Changes to Deal 'Could Be Very Significant'

What's it going to cost, Gavin?​At a late January America's Cup press conference, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom said something a bit odd regarding the city's dramatically hammered-out deal to host the race: "We made a lot of promises. A lot of them have been reported. Candidly, a lot of them ha ... More >>

Larry Ellison Too Good for His Own Golden Gate Yacht Club

Not Larry Ellison's style​While the rich like to brag that they lunch at the yacht club, the really, really rich apparently boast that they never go near the place.Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, for one, avoids his own Golden Gate Yacht Club, despite the fact he and his employees spend hundreds of doll ... More >>

How Chris Daly saved San Francisco from a bad America's Cup deal

Ross Mirkarimi Asks Budget Analyst to Make Sure America's Cup Deal isn't Costing Extra

Making sure the deal is even keeled, to use a nautical term ​Following the approval of the America's Cup deal, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi pledged to follow up with budget reports that would analyze whether the mayor's office has made any tweaks to the deal that would cost taxpayers extra money.&nbs ... More >>

San Francisco Landed America's Cup ... And Now We See Why

Sailing To A Sweeter Deal​The Examiner unravels some details of the "sweet" America's Cup deal that helped San Francisco land the sailing regatta. After much back-and-forth, San Francisco scaled back on its bid, essentially saving city taxpayers scores of millions of dollars. T ... More >>

Chris Daly, Bar Owner at Last

At Daly's Dive, Everybody knows your f**king name...​Chris Daly may never be a Republican. But he is now a publican. The District 6 supervisor tells SF Weekly his long odyssey to obtain Buck's Tavern is near its end. "It looks like later today, we'll close escrow," he says. "With the timing of the ... More >>

America's Cup: Mayor May Make Large, Long-Lasting Changes to Deal

Will Larry Ellison be San Francisco's Santa? Or the Grinch?​While the pulse of San Francisco's chances to land the America's Cup may be sliding toward demise, the offer the city put before Larry Ellison and the cup organizers is very much a living document. The "final agreement" bid unanimously ap ... More >>

Rainbow at Mission Bay -- Coooooool!

Joe EskenaziClick for a larger version​Anyone who'd characterize Mission Bay as a soulless scrap of concrete strewn with clumps of medical buildings and condos resembling the structure on the Stolichnaya label -- well, now it's all that with a hell of a rainbow. Those seeking the pot of gold shoul ... More >>

America's Cup: Supervisors Unanimously Adopt Hosting Bid

San Francisco has finalized its bid for the America's Cup. Is it enough to win the battle?​By an 11-0 vote, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted the so-called "Northern Waterfront Alternative" bid to host the America's Cup -- a deal race officials over the weekend deemed insufficient. Th ... More >>

America's Cup: San Francisco's Chances Are Sinking, Thanks to Chris Daly

America's Cup Organizers' Surprise Rejection of Latest Terms All About Securing Pier 50 For Waterfront Arena, Supervisor SaysChris Daly's tenacity -- and the fiscal studies he demanded -- may have sunk San Francisco's chances at the America's Cup​"Worse things happen at sea" will come as cold com ... More >>

America's Cup: How City Would End Up On the Hook for $55 Million

​During a lengthy Wednesday hearing regarding the America's Cup -- which was far less thrilling than a yachting race and had far more nautically themed public comment -- the city's budget analyst made an emphatic point. Based on the "Northern Waterfront Alternative" plan which is currently en vogu ... More >>

America's Cup: Newport, Larry Ellison Have Been in Contact

Hello, Larry! ​During yesterday's committee hearing regarding the hosting of the America's Cup regatta, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi warned his colleagues that former race site Newport, R.I. is clamoring to sail off with San Francisco's prize following any "glitch or defect in our process." This, it ... More >>

America's Cup: Regatta Argument Sails Into Next Week

Onward...​A new plan for hosting the America's Cup was today emphatically blessed by Port of San Francisco officials as the best deal the city could get. Yet the city's Budget Analyst warned that even under these "best" terms, the city could still end up giving away some $55 million to billionaire ... More >>

America's Cup: Budget Analyst Says It'll Still Lose City $101 Million

Vincent Van GoghWill the latest report take the wind out of the city's sails? ​The latest Budget and Legislative Analyst's report analyzing the potential costs and benefits of hosting the America's Cup regatta has finally hit dry land. But, crunching the numbers, the city's numerical mavens still ... More >>

Cost-Saving America's Cup Proposal Not Shipshape Yet

Don't fire up the boats yet...​The new-and-improved groundwork for hosting the America's Cup in San Francisco appears to take much less of a bite of city finances than the fabulously expensive, nonbinding "term sheet" the city approved in October. Fred Brousseau, a principal at the city's Budget A ... More >>

America's Cup: No 'Dramatic Swing' in Cost to City in New Report -- It'll Still Cost a Ton

Still sinking...​Last week, the city's budget analyst released an eye-catching report claiming that San Francisco would lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars should it see fit to host the America's Cup regatta on the terms currently before the city. The mayor's office dropped into a defensiv ... More >>

America's Cup: 'Not One Cent' In Private Funding Guaranteed

This city knows a bit about being under water...​Budget analyst Harvey Rose today defended a report his office released Thursday, which claimed that hosting the America's Cup regatta would lose San Francisco up to $143 million. "I don't think everybody understands. We say there'll be huge benefits ... More >>

Hosting America's Cup Would Lose City Millions, Budget Analyst Reports

Them boats is expensive​Earlier this week we reported that the city's budget analyst was at work on a report to answer the big question: Can you actually make money hosting the America's Cup? The report is out, and, according to the city's official number-cruncher, the answer is no. A resounding n ... More >>

Four More Movies About Tech Moguls That We Want to See

​Thanks to The Social Network, tech is hot! And sexy -- meow. And whenever anything is hot and sexy, Hollywood mauls it until it's bleeding and dying from liver failure in an El Segundo psych ward. But that's a few years off! Right now tech movies are getting a little of the "ol' treatment," if yo ... More >>

How to Buy Artisanal Ice Cream

​ Johnny O./YelpThe line at Bi-Rite Creamery.​Before you even think about buying artisanal ice cream, consider: Is it a hot, sunny day? Did the company just tweet a new flavor? Did 7x7 just write some more stuff about ice cream? You are fucked! Seriously, you are fucked. But if the air ... More >>

Warriors Sold -- But Not to Larry Ellison

Meet the new boss, Joe Lacob​Billionaire Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's quest to buy his favorite basketball team has been stuffed. The long-awaited sale of the Golden State Warriors was announced today, for a record $450 million -- but the winning bidder was Joseph Lacob, a part-owner of the Boston C ... More >>

Reports: Larry Ellison's Purchase of Golden State Warriors Imminent

Oracle Corporate CommunicationsHave you come to rescue us, Larry Ellison? ​Larry Ellison, the richer-than-Croesus CEO of Oracle and yachting enthusiast, is reportedly in the final stages of purchasing the Golden State Warriors. The move would likely be greeted with glee by fans of the NBA franchis ... More >>

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