San Francisco, July 16: In his first stock option grant since fiscal 2000, Oracle Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Ellison has received 900,000 share options, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. The grant was part of a larger distribution of 5.9 million options to Oracle executives reported in several regulatory filings on Tuesday.
According to Oracle's most recent proxy, Ellison received 40 million stock options for the four-year period ended May 31, 2003. Ellison, who owns about one-fourth of outstanding shares at the world's second-biggest software company, came under fire for the unusually large size of that grant.

An Oracle spokeswoman said Ellison did not receive a salary or bonus for fiscal 2001, 2002 or 2003, and declined to say whether he would get either in the current 2004 fiscal year. She said the option grants reported on Tuesday were part of Oracle's "normal compensation process."
According to Tuesday's filings, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Henley received 700,000 share options -- as did company executive vice presidents Keith Block, Safra Catz, Sergio Giacoletto, Derek Williams and Ron Wohl. Bureau Report