Larry Ellison had a hilarious answer when a Wall Street analyst asked him to increase Oracle’s dividends

“You’re not going to get me to come out against increasing the dividend,” he said, giggling out loud. “I think that’s a hell of an idea, maybe 4% would be good. Start a petition. I’ll be the first to sign!” He laughed some more. “Actually, I have my truck out front. I can pick up my share.”

The funny thing is, he probably wouldn’t mind a bigger dividend. Ellison rarely sells his Oracle shares and, given how much he spends — mansions, private golf courses, a Hawaiian island, jets, cars, the America’s Cup — he’s been known to borrow money to smooth out his cash flow. Last year, he used a fraction of his Oracle stake as collateral to secure a $10 billion personal line of credit.

Larry Ellison on Winning: Everyone else must fail

Ellison’s favorite saying is a phrase from legendary warrior Genghis Khan: “It’s not sufficient I succeed. Everyone else must fail.” Ellison has an extensive collection of Japanese artifacts, including this set of armor that was put on display at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum.

.. “I suppose you can say to anyone who wants to win so badly, who am I winning for? Am I winning for Oracle shareholders or is this simply a matter of personal vanity? I admit to it, mea culpa. An awful lot of it is personal vanity,” Ellison said to 60 Minutes in 2004. “I think we are curious about ourselves.”

Larry Ellison’s Zen Home

His main home is a sprawling, Japanese-inspired retreat in Woodside, California. It reportedly took 10 years and more than $100 million to complete. Ellison hired a Zen priest and a team of researchers who took multiple trips to Japan before construction could start. “The rocks are supposed to look like they were placed here by the hand of God over the last million years,” Ellison told 60 Minutes.