The richest boss in tech just got a little bit richer, and this time it's not his customers squeaking.

Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison, California's richest man, has been awarded a 38 per cent pay rise, taking his salary to an estimated $72m. The award makes Ellison the second-highest paid CEO of a US public company, coming in $1.7 mill behind Merrill Lynch's John Thain.

Ellison, who co-founded Oracle in 1977 and regularly tops Forbes' ranking of top-paid technology CEOs, reportedly asked a committee of Oracle's board members for the award. His net worth is $25bn.

His income growth outstrips that of his company for the year: Oracle reported a 29 per cent increase in net income and a 25 per cent jump in total revenue for its latest fiscal year, reported in June.

That largesse has reportedly (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=aOYi0UdDqnso&refer=technology) upset some of Oracle's shareholders, who now plan to propose they should have more say on compensation.

Ellison's pay rise comes on the heels of the decision to hike (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/20/oracle_license_increase/) licensing fees, and follows last year's disclosure that Oracle is charging some customers so much they are ripping (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/15/ellison_audience_smack_down/) processors from their servers to avoid paying Oracle more than they have to. ®

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