Oracle is moving its global headquarters to Nashville to be closer to the healthcare industry

the oracle The company is moving its global headquarters to Nashville, Tenn., to be closer to major health care centers, Chairman Larry Ellison said Tuesday.

In a wide-ranging conversation with former US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Ellison said Oracle is moving a “huge campus” to Nashville “that will eventually become our global headquarters.” He said Nashville is an established health center and “a great place to live,” and Oracle employees are excited about it.

“It’s at the heart of the industry we care about most, which is health care,” Ellison said.

The announcement seemed emotional. “I shouldn’t have said that,” Ellison told Frist.

Oracle shares were little changed in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

Oracle moves headquarters from Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas, 2020. The company has been making a big push in healthcare in recent years, notably the $28 billion acquisition of medical record software giant Cerner. Ellison said Tuesday that Oracle is relatively new to the healthcare space, but he believes the company has a “moral obligation” to address the issues facing the industry.

Nashville has always been a major player The city has been active in the healthcare sector for decades and now has a vibrant network of medical systems, start-ups and investment firms. The city’s reputation as a healthcare center was further enhanced when HCA Healthcare, one of the nation’s first for-profit hospital companies, was founded in the city in 1968.

HCA helped attract a large number of healthcare professionals to Nashville, and other organizations quickly followed suit. According to reports, Oracle spent US$1.2 billion to build a new campus in the city over three years. Tennessee.

“Our people love it here and we think it’s central to our future,” Ellison said.

Oracle did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.