Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) spokeswoman Jennifer Glass declined to comment on why Lane, 54, was leaving his post. She also declined to comment on what his next job might be, adding that neither Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Ellison nor Lane was available for comment on the unexpected departure by Lane.
Oracle shares were down 3 3/4 to 80 15/16 in early trading Monday.
"I am grateful to Ray for all of his efforts," Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison said in a statement. "He will be missed. We wish him nothing but the best."
Investors may miss Lane the most. Although Ellison is the face of Oracle and an outspoken leader. Lane has been credited with making the company more efficient on a day-to-day basis. Lane also handled Wall Street well and often had to tone down Ellison's banter to keep expectations in check.
Glass said Lane's departure had nothing to do with the news earlier this week that Oracle had a hired a private detective agency to investigate allies and groups that support Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), the world's biggest software firm.
Even so, Lane's departure has been rumoured for months.
Oracle has been a high-flyer in the technology sector for the past 18 months but Wall Street analysts have recently questioned whether the company, the world's biggest maker of database software, has already seen its best days.
The company crushed estimates in its fourth quarter with earnings of 31 cents a share.
Remaining on the board
The company said Lane will remain on the Oracle board of directors. That he will remain on Oracle's board suggests, analysts said, that he may be merely taking a break from the company. Ellison, 56, has not intimated any plans of stepping down, implying that Lane would not soon rise to head Oracle.
Lane, who joined Oracle eight years ago from consulting company Booz Allen & Hamilton, is widely credited with helping Oracle pull itself out of aggressive sales and accounting practices in the early 1990s that dragged down its stock price.
While Ellison has, since Lane came on board, been responsible for Oracle's overall strategic direction, Lane has been lauded by Wall Street analysts for restoring Oracle's credibility with the investment community.
Shares of Oracle rose 3-3/16 to close at 84-1/16 on Friday on the Nasdaq stock market. The stock has traded in a range between 17-5/16 and 90 in the past year.
Oracle has, in the past three years, been competing aggressively with IBM (NYSE: IBM) as well as Microsoft in the market for database software, which organises and compiles vast amounts of digital data, including Web pages, information, tables and myriad other information.
Oracle has also, in recent years, become a potent competitor in the market for business management software, which helps to automate human resources, payroll, supply-chain management, call centre as well as sales force automation functions, as well as others.
Oracle announced Lane's departure in a terse two-paragraph news release, well after market close on Friday, the weekend before the Independence Day Holiday in the United States.
