NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Oracle Corp.'s planned campus in Nashville, Tennessee, will serve as the business software giant's world headquarters, placing it in a city that's a center for the U.S. health care industry, company Chairman Larry Ellison said.
Ellison spoke about Oracle's plans for its Nashville offices during a conversation about health care technology with former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist at the Oracle Health Summit on Tuesday.
In 2021, a Tennessee panel approved $65 million in state incentives for Oracle, with the company planning to bring 8,500 jobs and an investment topping $1 billion to Nashville over a decade. Then-Mayor John Cooper’s office announced that the company, currently based in Austin, Texas, planned to build the new campus with 1.2 million square feet (111,400 square meters) of office space. In 2020, Oracle announced it was moving its headquarters from its longtime home in Redwood City, California, to Texas.
Frist, a doctor and businessman, asked Ellison why Nashville was chosen. Ellison, whose company bought electronic medical records company Cerner in 2022, called the city “a health center.”
“We're moving this huge campus, which will ultimately be our world headquarters,” Ellison said. “We're moving that to Nashville.”
Ellison then joked that he “shouldn't have said that.”
According to the Nashville Health Care Council, Tennessee's capital city has more than 900 companies with 550,000 employees working in the health care industry. HCA Healthcare and Change Healthcare are among the large companies based in the growing city.
Ellison, who is also the company's chief technology officer, said Oracle wants to be part of a community where people want to live. He said the city “ticked all the boxes” in employee surveys.
“Nashville is a fabulous place to live,” Ellison said. “It's a great place to raise a family. It's got a unique and vibrant culture .... It's the center of the industry we're most concerned about, which is the health care industry.”
The Nashville mayor’s office said in 2021 that Oracle paid $254 million for 60 acres (24 hectares) in downtown Nashville and offered $175 million upfront for public infrastructure, including a pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River, environmental cleanup, a sewer pump station and a riverfront park.
Ellison said plans for the riverfront campus include a community clinic, a concert venue, a hotel and a restaurant.
Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell said his office has been actively engaged with Oracle since he was elected last year, “and it’s been clear that they intended to enhance the level of activity at their River North campus.”
“We are a complete city that also checks the box for business,” O’Connell said in a statement.
This story has been updated to correct that Ellison is Oracle's chairman, not CEO.
FILE - Larry Ellison, chairman of Oracle Corporation and chief technology officer, watches from the stands at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament Oct. 13, 2021, in Indian Wells, Calif. Oracle Corp.'s planned campus in Nashville, Tenn. will serve as the computer technology giant's world headquarters, placing it in a city that's a center of the health care industry, CEO Larry Ellison said. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
FILE - This June 26, 2007 file photo shows the exterior of Oracle Corp. headquarters in Redwood City, Calif. Oracle Corp.'s planned campus in Nashville, Tenn. will serve as the computer technology giant's world headquarters, placing it in a city that's a center of the health care industry, CEO Larry Ellison said. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
TURIN, Italy (AP) — Ecuadorian cyclist Jhonatan Narváez marred Tadej Pogačar’s Giro d’Italia debut as he edged the Slovenian star to victory in the opening stage on Saturday.
Narváez took the leader’s pink jersey that Pogačar is heavily favored to be wearing when the race ends in Rome in three weeks.
Rarely has the Giro had such an overwhelming pre-race favorite as Pogačar, with the two-time Tour de France winner targeting an audacious Giro-Tour double.
Pogačar had never competed in the Italian grand tour before and he was hoping to ride into pink right from the start but Narváez beat him and Max Schachmann in a sprint between the three riders at the end of the 140-kilometer (87-mile) route from Venaria Reale to Turin.
Schachmann also edged out Pogačar.
“Following the best guy in the world on the climb was really hard, so it’s a special victory today," Narváez said. "It’s still hurting me now. It was really hard. Really, really hard. But in the end, I make it.”
“I think he (Pogačar) went too long in the sprint, 200 meters after a really hard stage and I did a short sprint and in the end I took the victory.”
Narváez was swiftly embraced by Ineos Grenadiers teammate Geraint Thomas, last year's runner-up, who is likely to be Pogačar's main challenger.
Thomas and most of the other GC contenders finished within 10 seconds of the leading trio. But there was disappointment for another Ineos Grenadiers rider in Thymen Arensman as he finished more than two minutes behind Narváez.
Romain Bardet and Luke Plapp also both lost more than a minute after all three were dropped on the second-category Colle Maddalena. They were expected to be among the challengers for a podium finish.
There was a special pink jersey as the stage commemorated the 1949 Superga air disaster involving the Torino soccer team. The maglia rosa had the words “Solo il Fato li vinse”, or “Only Fate defeated them,” written on the inside of the collar, in Torino’s colors.
The opening leg went over the Superga hill where the Torino team’s plane crashed, to mark the 75th anniversary of the tragedy. All 31 people on board the plane died.
As well as the Superga climb there were two other categorized climbs plus two rides up a steep but uncategorized ascent — including once shortly before the finish — as the Giro got off to an unusually difficult start.
It was on that final climb that Pogačar made his move, upping the pace so that only Narváez and Schachmann could stay with him.
They swiftly caught the remnants of the breakaway and then leader Nicola Conci and Pogačar and Narváez crested the summit together before being joined by Schachmann on the descent, setting it up for the sprint to the line.
Sunday’s second stage will also be challenging. There are three classified climbs, including a top category uphill finish, in an undulating 161-kilometer (100-mile) route from San Francesco al Campo to Santuario di Oropa.
It will be the earliest mountain finish at the Giro since 1989 when the race began in Sicily and went up Mount Etna.
The Giro ends in Rome on May 26.
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Jhonatan Narváez celebrates as he cycles to the finish line to win the stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia from Venaria Reale to Turin, Italy, Saturday May 4, 2024. (Gian Mattia D'Alberto/LaPresse via AP)
The start of stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia from Venaria Reale to Turin, Italy, Saturday May 4, 2024. (Gian Mattia D'Alberto/LaPresse via AP)
The race during stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia from Venaria Reale to Turin, Italy, Saturday May 4, 2024. (Gian Mattia D'Alberto/LaPresse via AP)
The start of stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia from Venaria Reale to Turin, Italy, Saturday May 4, 2024. (Gian Mattia D'Alberto/LaPresse via AP)
France's Lilian Calmejane leads during stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia from Venaria Reale to Turin, Italy, Saturday May 4, 2024. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)
The pack rides during stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia from Venaria Reale to Turin, Italy, Saturday May 4, 2024. (Gian Mattia D'Alberto/LaPresse via AP)
Jhonatan Narváez celebrates as he cycles to the finish line to win the stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia from Venaria Reale to Turin, Italy, Saturday May 4, 2024. (Gian Mattia D'Alberto/LaPresse via AP)
Jhonatan Narváez celebrates as he cycles to the finish line to win the stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia from Venaria Reale to Turin, Italy, Saturday May 4, 2024. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)
Jhonatan Narváez celebrates with sparkling wine on podium after winning the stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia from Venaria Reale to Turin, Italy, Saturday May 4, 2024. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)
