After announcing that CFO Greg Maffei was stepping down after just four months after the close of trading on Thursday last week, shares rose nearly 3% to $12.56 (up 36 cents) early Friday on the news that Catz would be filling his shoes on a permanent, not an interim, basis.
Shares had slid almost 6% on the news of Maffei’s departure on Thursday.
Catz’s appointment ended a week of speculation for the database giant and will hopefully bring stability to the company’s office of finance which has seen its third CFO in less than two years. Harry You resigned in March, after less than a year on the job, to become chief executive of BearingPoint Inc.
Maffei, who once held the CFO position at Microsoft Corp in the late 1990s, is leaving to join another firm, the name of which Oracle did not disclose.
Catz, a former investment banker is certainly well qualified to take over financial responsibilities for the firm, having previously stepped into the role temporarily after You’s departure. Over the past several years she has become a darling of investors and played a prominent role in Oracle’s recent spate of acquisitions.
She officially takes over as CFO on November 15.
It is rumored that cultural and personality clashes are to blame for Maffei’s hasty departure from the Redwood Shores, California-based firm, rather than any financial irregularities. According to a report from Goldman Sachs, Maffei has been absent from his job for over two weeks.
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Oracle however denies that executive tensions were to blame; a point underscored by Maffei who said in a statement: My resignation from Oracle is not a reflection of the company, its executives or employees.
