Much of the information is geared to individual investors, who tend to be the primary users of Oracle's IR information on the Web. "We recognized early on that individual investors were going to be an important influence on the stock," says Stephanie Aas, senior director of IR. "We provide individuals with the same information professionals have access to." That policy is serving Oracle well now that Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt has turned up the heat on selective disclosure. In fact, Henley's earnings conference calls--which are open to the public--have also been recorded and posted as audio files on Oracle's Web site for more than a year and a half. Aas says she plans to make recordings of analyst days available on the site as well.
While the 28 analysts that cover Oracle are still more likely to pick up the phone than click on the Web site, they give the site high marks. "I use Oracle's Web site every week, although not for investment data," notes Morgan Stanley's Phillips. "The enormous amount of product information, news, and information about the broader Oracle community is a must-read for analysts following the company."
Henley says the Internet makes equal disclosure among analysts and individuals possible. "The Internet gave us a way to [share investor information] inexpensively," says Henley, who strongly favors the SEC's recent Regulation FD, designed to eliminate selective disclosure. "We have nothing to hide," he says. "The more people know about Oracle, the better our stock will do."
So far, he's been right. The company's most recent analyst meeting took place on April 4--the same day the dot-com devaluation hit its nadir. By early afternoon, Nasdaq had plummeted to a record intraday loss of nearly 575 points. Henley was unfazed. "We didn't change a bit of content," he says. "We are all used to the volatility in this industry. I can't control the market; all I can control is what we do."
Despite the fact that many new dot-coms are Oracle customers, Henley says the ongoing market correction was long overdue and doesn't worry him. "It is weeding out the bad practices and sloppiness that was going on," he says. Indeed, while dot-coms dropped like flies that day, one analyst at the meeting reported that Henley was "almost giddy" about Oracle's future. That description seems to make Henley uncomfortable, presumably because CFOs are supposed to be more reserved. But his reaction to the market downturn shows that successful CFOs ultimately put their trust in sound financial practices--no matter how customer-friendly they may be.
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