Okay. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Jeff Henley, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. I'd like to welcome you to our annual meeting of stockholders. In accordance with the notice of the meeting, I call to order the 47th Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Oracle Corporation. We will first conduct the formal portion of the stockholders' meeting in accordance with the agenda you see on your screen. Following adjournment of the formal portion, there will be an opportunity for us to answer stockholder questions. Some of you have already submitted a question. If you submit a question at any time during the meeting, in the space provided on the virtual meeting screen, we will ask that you please identify yourself. As a reminder, this meeting is being recorded.
Before proceeding to the business of the meeting, I'd like to introduce myself and other directors who are standing for election and joining us remotely today. As I mentioned, my name is Jeff Henley. I've been a Director since 1995 and Vice Chairman since 2014. Prior to that, I served as Chairman. I was also previously Oracle's Chief Financial Officer from 1991 to 2004. Larry Ellison was appointed Chairman of the Board and Chief Technology Officer in 2014. Previously, Mr. Ellison was our CEO and has been a Director since he founded Oracle in 1977. Safra Catz has been a Director since 2001 and was appointed CEO of Oracle in 2014. Prior to that, Ms. Catz served as President and Chief Financial Officer. Dr. Michael Boskin has been a Director since 1994. Dr. Boskin is the Tully M.
Friedman Professor of Economics and Wohlford Family Hoover Institution Senior Fellow at Stanford University. Jeff Berg has been a Director since 1997. He is Chairman of Northside Services, a media and entertainment advisory firm. Mr. Berg was formerly Chairman and CEO of International Creative Management. Naomi Seligman has been a Director since 2005. She's a Senior Partner at Ostriker von Simson, a technology research firm that chairs the CIO Strategy Exchange. George Conrades has been a Director since 2008. He is an Executive Advisor to Akamai Technologies and previously served as Akamai's Chairman and CEO. Bruce Chizen has been a Director since 2008. He's an Independent Consultant and serves as Senior Advisor to Permira and as a Strategic Advisor at Voyager Capital. He previously served as CEO of Adobe Systems. Secretary Leon Panetta has been a Director since 2015. Secretary Panetta previously served as the U.S.
Secretary of Defense and as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He is Co-Founder and Chairman of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy. Wick Moorman has been Director since 2018. He's currently a Senior Advisor to Amtrak and previously served as Amtrak's President and CEO. He also served as Chairman and CEO of Norfolk Southern Corporation. Bill Parrett has been a Director since 2018. He previously served as CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Rona Fairhead has been a Director since 2018. She previously served as Minister of State for Trade and Export Promotion in the Department for International Trade in the United Kingdom, and prior to that, she served as Chair of the BBC Trust. Awo Ablo has been a Director since 2022. She is the Executive Vice President of Strategy and Partnership at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
Also present with me at this meeting is Brian Higgins, Oracle Senior Vice President and Corporate Secretary. We are also joined here today by representatives from Ernst & Young, our independent auditors. They will be available during the question and answer session after the formal meeting to respond to appropriate questions. And finally, Oracle has appointed Broadridge Financial Solutions to act as Inspector of Elections. Katherine Blackwell, representing Broadridge, is with us today and has taken the oath of the Inspector of Elections. The minutes of last year's annual meeting are available, and any stockholder wishing to inspect the minutes should contact our Corporate Secretary. So now let's move on to the formal portion of the meeting. Brian Higgins will report on the mailing of the notice of this meeting.
Thanks, Jeff. This meeting is held pursuant to a notice dated September 25th, 2024. I have an affidavit of distribution from Broadridge Financial Solutions certifying us to the giving of notice of this meeting and the sending of the proxy materials to stockholders of record as of September 16th, 2024, all of which Broadridge commenced distributing to stockholders on September 25th, 2024. I also have a copy of the 2024 Annual Report, which includes financial statements certified by Ernst & Young. A copy of this Annual Report was sent or made available to each stockholder entitled to vote at this meeting, and an electronic copy of the Annual Report is available on the website used to access this meeting. I also have a list of the holders of record of the common stock of the company at the close of business on September 16th, 2024.
This list of stockholders has been open for examination for any purpose relevant to this meeting for the past 10 days. All documents concerning notice of the meeting, including proof of mailing, will be filed with the minutes of this meeting. This meeting is being held in accordance with Oracle's bylaws and Delaware law. A copy of the rules of conduct that govern today's meetings can be found in the meeting materials section of the web portal for today's virtual meeting. We ask that you abide by these rules in order to facilitate an orderly meeting.
Okay. Brian will now advise whether a quorum is present at the meeting and canvass the stockholders present. Those stockholders who have returned proxies have authorized the persons identified in the proxies to vote on the proposals coming before the meeting.
On the record date, there were 2,771,063,110 shares of Oracle's common stock issued, outstanding, and entitled to vote at this meeting. I have been informed by the Inspector of Elections that a majority of these shares is present in person or by proxy, and therefore a quorum necessary to transact business is present. It is now approximately 9:08 A.M. Central Time, and the polls are open but will close shortly. All Oracle stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting have the ability to do so online. If you are a stockholder entitled to vote and have not yet voted, or if you want to change your previously cast vote, please do so now. Please remember that if you have already voted by proxy, it is not necessary to vote again. Once we complete the formal portion of the meeting, we will close the polls.
Okay. Thank you. I declare a quorum is present at this meeting. On behalf of Oracle's board, I would like to express my appreciation to all stockholders who returned their proxies or submit ballots. There are four items of business on the agenda for this year's meeting: three management proposals and one stockholder proposal. We will start with the management proposals. The first matter of business is the election of 13 directors to serve until the next annual meeting of stockholders. The nominees recommended by the Board of Directors are Larry Ellison, Jeff Henley, Safra Catz, Michael Boskin, Jeff Berg, Naomi Seligman, George Conrades, Bruce Chizen, Leon Panetta, Wick Moorman, Bill Parrett, Rona Fairhead, and Awo Ablo. Additional information about the nominees can be found on pages 10 through 15 in the Oracle Proxy Statement.
The next item is the non-binding advisory vote by stockholders on the compensation paid to Oracle's named executive officers as disclosed in Oracle's Proxy Statement filed in connection with this meeting. This is commonly referred to as Say-on-Pay vote. The final management proposal is the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as Oracle's Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm by the Finance and Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors recommends the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young as our Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm for the Fiscal Year 2025. The next item of business is the proposal submitted by, As You Sow, on behalf of Reimer Family Foundation, Inc., Edwards Mother Earth Foundation, Francis L. Bell, together with and for the benefit of Roger DeFrantz, Humankind Benefit Corporation, and the Pleiades Trust, all of whom are stockholders of Oracle.
The proposal, which appears on page 77 of Oracle's Proxy Statement, requests that the company prepare a report on climate risk to retirement plan beneficiaries. We understand that Grant Bradski will represent As You Sow, so at this meeting. Pursuant to the rules of conduct for the meeting, Mr. Bradski has five minutes to present the proposal. Mr. Bradski submitted a recorded presentation of the proposal in advance of the meeting. Operator, please play Mr. Bradski's presentation.
Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to present this proposal. I'm Grant Bradski from the Shareholder Representative, as you saw. This shareholder resolution is of the utmost importance as it asks the critical question, how will Oracle protect its employees' life savings from the economic consequences of climate change? Climate change poses material risk to retirement plan beneficiaries. A recent report found that Oracle employees could have made over $719 million more in returns had Oracle moved to decarbonize its retirement plan 10 years ago. Over a quarter of Oracle's retirement plan assets are invested in the company's Vanguard default target date option, which is heavily exposed to high carbon and deforestation-intensive industries. These investments contribute to climate change, create systemic portfolio risk, and are poor long-term investments, particularly for younger beneficiaries whose retirement benefits are likely to be harmed due to climate-related financial losses.
Oracle knows we must address climate risk head-on. It's why shareholders are proud of our company's climate goals, including a goal of 100% renewable energy use by 2025 and the goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Yet, how will we meet these goals if Oracle is at the same time directing over $1 billion of our employee 401(k) savings into fossil fuels and burning down the Amazon? These investments undermine the company's climate goals, expose employee savings to financial risk, and harm the company's reputation on climate, and could expose the company to litigation risk, as occurred recently. Just as Oracle has taken operational climate action, shareholders ask that Oracle now begin to address its target date funds and the billions of dollars of our employee retirement plan funds invested in fossil fuels.
This will not only protect our company from the economic impacts of climate change but also protect our employees' life savings. Thank you.
Here. Okay. Thank you. The board opposes this proposal for the reasons described in the Proxy Statement.
The polls will close shortly. If you intend to vote, you need to do so now. We will pause briefly to allow any final votes to come through. It is now approximately 9:13 A.M. Central Time, and the polls are now closed. We will now announce the preliminary voting results. Final vote totals for each of the proposals voted upon today will be made publicly available on a Form 8-K filed within four business days of today.
Will the Secretary please announce the results of the vote to elect 13 directors to serve until the next annual meeting of stockholders?
Each nominee for election to the Board of Directors has received the affirmative vote of a majority of Oracle shares of common stock present and entitled to vote at this meeting.
I declare that all the nominees for director have been duly elected. Next, will the Secretary please indicate the results of the Say-on-Pay vote?
The Say-on-Pay vote also received the affirmative vote of a majority of Oracle shares of common stock present and entitled to vote at this meeting.
Thank you. The advisory say-on-pay vote is hereby noted. Will the Secretary please indicate the results of the vote to ratify appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as Oracle's Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm for Fiscal Year 2025?
The ratification of Ernst & Young received the affirmative vote of a majority of Oracle shares of common stock present and entitled to vote at this meeting.
The appointment of Ernst & Young as Oracle's Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm for Fiscal Year 2025 has been duly ratified. Finally, will the Secretary please announce the results for the stockholder proposal requesting that the company prepare a report on climate risk to benefit plan beneficiaries?
This proposal did not receive the affirmative vote of a majority of Oracle shares of common stock present and entitled to vote at this meeting.
I declare that the stockholder proposal requesting that the company prepare a report on climate risk to retirement plan beneficiaries has not received the affirmative vote of a majority of Oracle's shares of common stock present and entitled to vote at this meeting. So this concludes the formal part of this meeting, which is now adjourned. We are now at the part of the meeting providing for general questions and discussion. If you have a question regarding Oracle and its business, please follow the instructions provided on the virtual meeting screen. We ask that you please identify yourself when submitting a question. Please note that our answers to stockholder questions may include expectations, predictions, estimates, or other information that might be considered forward-looking. While these forward-looking statements represent our current judgment on what the future holds, they're subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.
You should view our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q for a discussion of risks that may affect our future results or the market price of our stock. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect our opinions only as of today. Please keep in mind that we're not obligating ourselves to update these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events.
Though we may not be able to answer every question, we will endeavor to answer as many stockholder-submitted questions as time permits that comply with the meeting rules of conduct and are germane to Oracle's business. The first question, I think, for Mr. Ellison, how does Oracle expect Artificial Intelligence, AI, to affect the company and its customers?
I think AI is probably the most important new technology to show up since at least electricity. It's going to impact all of our customers. Every application that we make, most of the capability, for example, Fusion accounting applications and procurement applications, inventory applications, and expense management applications, all have AI components or what are sometimes called AI agents to add capabilities. For example, AI will be able to, is able and does scan expense reports and will identify the expense reports that are outside the reimbursement guidelines. The AI actually goes ahead and reads our policies for what we do and don't reimburse. Maybe, for example, there might be certain hotels that we pay for, other hotels that are too expensive and we don't pay for. When you submit your dinner expense, we might not pay for alcohol but pay for food.
I mean, that's a very simple example of what this does. But actually, it does much more sophisticated analysis and identifies potential expense fraud. If one of our customers used that, that happens automatically. Furthermore, the AI system will automatically approve expenses that fall within the companies' reimbursement policies without any human intervention. So this expense report review, which is fully robotic, fully powered by AI, makes it easier for companies to promptly reimburse their employees and makes it more difficult for employees to get paid for things that are outside the policy.
More interesting is in our medical systems, our new Millennium medical systems, where before a doctor meets with a patient, the AI agent will actually review the patient's latest lab results, the patient's latest vital signs, look at the electronic health record and other information, and prepare a summary of the status of the patient before the doctor goes ahead and sees the patient. Creating that summary makes it easier for doctors to update themselves before seeing the patient, understand the purpose of this current consultation, and prepare the doctor to ask the relevant questions of the patient during consultation. Furthermore, the AI agent will actually listen to the consultation between the physician and the patient. And rather than the doctor having to take notes, the AI agent will simply listen to what the patient has to say and listen to how the doctor responds.
If the doctor decides to increase a dose of a medication, that new prescription is noted, and that prescription is entered into the system. If the patient identifies a particular symptom, that symptom is actually noted in the electronic health record, and the electronic health record is automatically updated. If the doctor issues a series of orders, whether it's that the doctor wants additional tests or whatever it may be, those doctor's orders are automatically entered into the system. Before AI, the doctors or a scribe working for the doctor would have to enter this data into the electronic health record, update the electronic health record, order the prescriptions, issue the orders by typing into the computer system. That's not how it works in the age of AI. We simply listen to the conversation, and the agent, the AI agent, updates the electronic health record, updates the prescriptions and the orders.
The doctor is free to spend their time with the patient and spend their time analyzing a treatment program as opposed to sitting in front of a computer and bearing the administrative burden of typing all that information in manually. Again, I can give you 100 other examples, but literally every application. One more interesting one. We can look at satellite, but we are looking at satellite photographs over Kenya. From the satellite photographs, we can identify virtually every farm in Kenya, what they are growing, and estimate their agricultural output for the growing season. We can actually get down to the details of the individual farm and provide helpful information where one corner of a particular field isn't getting enough water, another corner of a particular field isn't getting enough nitrogen, so you have to add fertilizer.
So you've got these agricultural systems, these AI agricultural systems that provide the nation-state of Kenya with an estimate and an overview of what's going on in their country in terms of agricultural output, and all the way down to the individual farmer providing advice on how they can increase their individual output. That's by AI interpreting satellite photographs and aggregating the entire agricultural output of a nation-state. None of this was possible. None of this was a distant dream before the advent of AI technology, which is going to impact everything we do here in Oracle. Last thing where AI has been very interesting is how we used AI to take our database product, the world's leading database product, and make it autonomous. In other words, make it fully robotic. There are no DBAs with the Oracle Autonomous Database.
When the Oracle Autonomous Database has to patch and fix a security vulnerability, it does all of that automatically. There's no human intervention. It is fully autonomous, fully self-driving. This accrues to two benefits to the user of the Autonomous Database. One, if there's no human labor, if it's fully autonomous, the costs of running the system are greatly reduced. And if it's fully autonomous, there's no human error. If there's no human labor, there's no human error. And by eliminating human error, especially around systems that manage data, you eliminate most security risk because almost all security vulnerabilities begin the same way with human error. If there are no humans in the system, there's no cost of labor, there's no human error, there's no mischief, and your data is much safer. It's everywhere, AI.
Thanks, Larry. That's tremendous. The next question is, what does the recently expanded relationship with Microsoft, Google, and AWS mean for Oracle as a company and its database customers?
Who is that question for?
That was for you, Larry.
Okay. I see a pattern in the questions. Okay. It means that the fact that Oracle is building data centers for Google inside of the Google Cloud. Oracle is building data centers at AWS inside the AWS Cloud. Oracle is building data centers in Microsoft inside of the Microsoft Cloud. Why have we been asked to do that? Because Oracle is by far the most popular database in the world, and customers want to move their applications, a lot of their Oracle applications, to the cloud. Now, a lot of those customers are moving their applications to the Oracle Cloud. But we don't expect 100% of the applications in the world using the Oracle database to come to the Oracle Cloud. Customers are going to use different clouds. They're going to use multiple clouds. They already use multiple clouds.
So we wanted to enable our customers, our database customers, to move their application to the Oracle Cloud if they wanted to. And they've been able to do that for a while. But now, with this new agreement with AWS and Microsoft and Google, they can move the application to whatever cloud is appropriate for that particular application, whatever cloud they chose. So they have complete freedom of choice to move their Oracle-based applications to any of the four major clouds. This will speed the migration of Oracle applications and Oracle databases from on-premises into the cloud and dramatically accelerate our database revenue as the database revenue moves from mainly support payments for the database on-premises to hourly payments for usage as Oracle's moved to the four major clouds in the world: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Oracle.
Great. That concludes the question and answer session.
Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending today's meeting and be well.
Thank you.
The annual meeting has now concluded. Thank you for joining and have a pleasant day.