Revealed: Tech titans of the past 25 years

Larry Ellison, chief executive and member of the board of directors of Oracle, was nominated by 36 percent of respondents.

Oracle has been on a buying spree of late and most recently snapped up business intelligence company Hyperion for $3.3bn (£1.7bn). The company also tried to buy BEA systems in October, but eventually withdrew its bid after resistance from the middleware maker's shareholders.