Larry Ellison

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Australia has emerged as a possible compromise venue for next year's America's Cup race after a New York judge on Friday ordered two rivals for yachting's most prestigious prize to hold private negotiations. Defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland and California challenger BMW Oracle have been locked in a two-year legal dispute over the terms of the 33rd edition of the race. The most recent disagreement has concerned where the race, now scheduled for February 2010, will be held. "We're waiting to see if there's a consensual resolution that ends all this litigation," said Barry Ostrager, a lawyer for Alinghi. Alinghi, ... Read Full Story

America's Cup defender Alinghi said Tuesday that it would appeal against a US court ruling that had stifled attempts to hold the next round of yachting's most prestigious trophy in the United Arab Emirates. Alinghi said in a statement that its home club in the Swiss city of Geneva, the Societe Nautique de Geneve, "has applied for an expedited appeal to avoid any delay to the February 2010 Deed of Gift Match." New York Supreme Court Judge Shirley Kornreich had ruled in US challenger Oracle's favour on October 30, judging that the event could not be held in the Gulf emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, ... Read Full Story

US syndicate Oracle reiterated Thursday that the port of Valencia in eastern Spain is the "best option" to host its multihull duel in February 2010 against Swiss side Alinghi to settle the 33rd America's Cup. "Valencia is the best option to get the America's Cup back on track as soon as possible. This is what sailing fans from around the world are waiting for," Oracle's New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts said in a statement. Both teams still have bases in the city on Spain's Mediterranean coast, the site of the last America's Cup which was won by Alinghi in 2007, he said. "The infrastructure ... Read Full Story

This isn't your great-grandfather's America's Cup. What used to be an insulated sport for fabulously wealthy men named Lipton and Vanderbilt has morphed into something out of a James Bond movie or a Tom Clancy novel, all wrapped up in two of the fastest, most-extreme boats ever to cut through — or in this case, literally fly above — the sea spray. When two-time defending champion Alinghi of landlocked Switzerland picked little-known Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, to host its nautical grudge match beginning Feb. 8 against an American crew led by Silicon Valley maverick Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp., it did more than ... Read Full Story

Larry Ellison ratcheted up his rhetoric against IBM Corp. on Wednesday, challenging Oracle Corp.'s longtime partner and rival to "make our day" in a battle over business software performance. Ellison, Oracle's billionaire CEO, shook up the technology world in April by outbidding IBM and snatching up struggling server and software maker Sun Microsystems Inc. for $7.4 billion. The deal, which still needs approval from European antitrust authorities, would make Oracle more of a one-stop technology shop, like IBM. It led to a feeding frenzy on Sun's customers, with IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co. playing on fears about Oracle's plans for Sun's technology to steal business ... Read Full Story