Next week's Forbes magazine will be appearing on newstands shortly with a cover story on Oracle Corp and Larry Ellison. The penultimate paragraph:

Ellison, for his part, will just keep on sailing--solo, when it comes to the succession question. Back in 1998, when he sailed his yacht, the Sayonara, in his first America's Cup, he and his crew endured 630 miles through rough seas and hurricane-force winds off Australia. Ellison was lucky to come out alive; five boats sank and six sailors died. Next April he will be on the high seas again.

One has to wonder about the accuracy, indeed validity, of the entire article when the author, editor and fact checkers get it so wrong -- confusing the America's Cup with the Sydney-Hobart.

Perhaps Forbes should stick to ranking celebrities, and leave the serious business reporting to the likes of the Wall Street Journal, the Economist and Fortune magazine.

One impressive factoid we read elsewhere that Forbes apparently did get right: "Oracle is now neck and neck with Microsoft in profitability, with an operating (Ebitda, that is) margin of 42% in its last fiscal year (versus 43% at Microsoft)."


Forbes magazine: winner
of the BOB's first-ever, and
sure to be highly coveted,
Bonehead Award.