Oracle Corp. has appointed Hilary Maxson, an executive from Schneider Electric SE, as its chief financial officer to assist with extensive data center development initiatives and the resulting cash constraints.
“To capitalize on this opportunity, we need efficient strategies for capital allocation, capacity delivery, innovation, and generating profitable, recurring revenue,” Oracle stated in a release on Monday, April 6.
The appointment is effective immediately, with Maxson reporting to Clay Magouyrk, one of the company’s dual CEOs. Doug Kehring had been acting as principal financial officer since Safra Catz stepped down from both the chief executive officer and principal financial officer roles last fall.
The nearly four-decade-old software giant, Oracle, has transformed into a cloud infrastructure leader. The company is investing tens of billions of dollars into building an artificial intelligence infrastructure to support clients like ChatGPT creator OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc. While historically recognized for its database software, Oracle has found success in providing the necessary data centers for training and implementing AI models.
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Executing these ambitious plans has necessitated extraordinary financial strategy for Oracle. Wall Street anticipates that the company will experience negative free cash flow until 2030 due to the scale of data center construction. Recently, the firm has initiated its largest restructuring effort, which is expected to lead to significant job cuts. Oracle has announced plans to raise up to $50 billion this year through a mix of debt and equity offerings.
The company’s stock has declined by more than 50% from its peak in September amid concerns about the profitability and complexity of its infrastructure projects, alongside general fears of an AI bubble.
Prior to this role, Maxson served as executive vice president and group chief financial officer at Schneider Electric, a company she joined in 2017.
“Choosing a CFO from an industrial background emphasizes the significance of AI infrastructure development within Oracle and indicates that growth will come from the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure segment rather than from databases or applications,” noted Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Anurag Rana in a report on Monday.
Oracle shares experienced a slight decline following the announcement in premarket trading and remained relatively stable at the opening in New York. Catz has overseen Oracle’s financial operations since 2011, and the company gradually stopped using the title “chief financial officer” after her appointment as co-CEO in 2014. Catz currently serves as executive vice chair of Oracle’s board.
