SAN FRANCISCO - Lawrence J. Ellison is retiring from his role as the chief executive of Oracle Corporation, a company he founded in 1977 that has transformed the business world and made him one of the world's richest people.
His departure marks one of the last exits of the tech industry's first generation of celebrity executives, who took computers from the back offices of a few big institutions and into the mainstream of everyday life.
Mr. Ellison, who turned 70 last month, said he was leaving as a normal part of succession planning.
Mr. Ellison will become executive chairman, and will continue to work on Oracle's technology, the company said Thursday in a statement announcing the move. Oracle's software and hardware is involved with the ways that companies and large organizations store and manage their data, as well as sophisticated applications for running things like international manufacture, nationwide retail, and corporate financial systems.
The chief executive job at Oracle will be shared by two senior executives: Mark Hurd, currently Oracle's co-president; and Safra Catz, who is co-president and chief financial officer.
It is unusual for big technology firms to have split responsibilities at the top, but so far the two have split much of running Oracle, a company with over 120,000 employees. Mr. Hurd runs service and sales, while Ms. Catz oversees operations and finance.
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