Salesforce.com Snatches Away Oracle Exec

Salesforce.com, an online CRM provider, hired former Oracle executive Phil Barker as senior vice president of global services. Barker will lead the company's global consulting, implementation and integration efforts for Salesforce.com's Fortune 2000 customers. By hiring Barker, Salesforce.com gains greater ties to its Oracle roots. "In just three years, we have build Salesforce.com into the fastest growing enterprise solutions company in the world, and it is seasoned executives like Phil Barker who will help us move forward on our path to success," stated Marc Benioff, CEO, chairman and founder of salesforce.com, and a former senior vice president at Oracle reporting directly to Oracle chieftain Larry Ellison. Moreover, Ellison is a strategic investor in the company, according to Salesforce.com's Web site. Salesforce.com also claims Barker played a major role in Oracle's growth over the past nine years, asserting that his efforts directly contributed to growing Oracle Services' revenue from $30 million to over $2.4 billion.