Cloudless Day in Redwood Shores

Oracle HQ at Redwood Shores, 2004

2017: Buildings added, plus marine craft.

The Oracle headquarters in Redwood Shores has changed a bit over the past decade. (The site was home to Marine World/Africa USA through 1986; your humble blogger retrospectively appreciates the lions' roars that floated up to Foster City at sunset).

The glass cylinders were ostentatious for their time but now are in tune with the trophy HQ's of Apple, Facebook, and Google. However, none of the latter have an America's Cup yacht parked in a lagoon right outside.

Oracle's market capitalization has risen to $206 billion from about $60 billion a decade ago, so Mr. Ellison is entitled to indulge a few outside interests.

Oracle looked like it was going to be left behind in a new world of social media and mobile devices but has more than regained its footing in the cloud.