CUPERTINO, Calif. -- Larry Ellison, chairman and chief executive officer of Oracle Corp., is resigning from Apple Computer Inc.'s board of directors.

"Larry has served Apple shareholders well as a director during the past five years," Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, said in a statement early Friday. "We're looking forward to benefiting from his counsel on an informal basis going forward."

Ellison said he would continue to offer advice to Apple management, "But my schedule does not currently allow me to attend enough of the formal board meetings to warrant a role as a director."

The announcement comes days after Oracle, a leading business software maker, reported a 33 percent drop in fiscal first quarter profits and said its fortunes continued to sag as corporate America's technology malaise spread into Europe and Asia.