Billionaire Larry Ellison isn't taking a wait and see approach on Apple's future. The Oracle CEO apparently knew the tech giant was doomed as soon as co-founder Steve Jobs passed away in 2011.
In an appearance on "CBS This Morning" that airs Tuesday, Charlie Rose asks Ellison: "So what happens to Apple without Steve?"
"Well, we already know," answers Ellison.
Charlie Rose asks "What?"
"We saw — we conducted the experiment. I mean, it's been done." says Ellison. "We saw Apple with Steve Jobs," Ellison says as he raises his hand high. "We saw Apple without Steve Jobs," he says while lowering his hand. "We saw Apple with Steve Jobs," Ellison raises his hand high. "Now, we're gonna see Apple without Steve Jobs," he says, lowering his hand. Ellison is referring to the period of time when Jobs left Apple and the company struggled, from 1985 to 1996.
Apple's future without Jobs has been hotly debated for the past couple of years. Though the company has yet to launch a truly exceptional new product since the iPad in 2010 and its iPhone is seeing serious competition from the likes of the Galaxy, it still sells a lot of product. Apple sold 31.2 million iPhones in the third quarter of 2013.
Earlier this year, the company made $7 billion in profit on $35 billion in sales over just a three month period. Not too bad.
Ellison, who was a close friend of Jobs, told Rose, "My eulogy began, you know, I guess we're all told that no one's irreplaceable. I don't believe that. I just don't."
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