Larry Ellison talked about a long hike with Steve Jobs in USC's commencement speech - Recode

Some reminiscences from the surviving half of an odd couple

"Ellison's idea was to buy Apple and immediately make Jobs CEO. It made sense. Apple was worth only about $5 billion at the time, and, as Ellison said, "We both had really good credit, and I had already arranged to borrow all the money. All Steve had to do was say yes."

Jobs proposed what Ellison called "a more circuitous route." He would persuade Apple to acquire Next, and then join Apple's board. "Over time the board would recognize that Steve was the right guy to lead the company." As we all know, that's exactly what happened the following year."

Larry Ellison talked about a long hike with Steve Jobs in USC's commencement speech - Recode