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There's no love lost between the two CEOs who have traded barbs on a number of occasions in the past, especially as Salesforce started to encroach on the database market - Oracle's traditional turf.
Salesforce issued a media release confirming the keynote cancellation, but noting that Mr Benioff intended to deliver his presentation and invite questions from the media at the swanky St Regis hotel in San Francisco. A spokeswoman for Oracle in Australia said she had no further information and was not able to comment.
Mr Benioff was quoted in the Salesforce release saying; 'Oracle just cancelled my keynote tomorrow. But the show must go on! Everyone is welcome to join me at Ame Restaurant tomorrow to hear about the social enterprise. Sorry Larry, the cloud can't be stopped.'
A report in the New York Times meanwhile quoted Oracle sources saying that the problem arose when Mr Benioff's session had to be rescheduled to a later time. Mr Benioff had countered by saying he was not available at that time.
Instead of accepting the alternative time on offer (which allegedly was a graveyard slot) Mr Benioff has cannily harnessed social media to capitalise on Oracle's scheduling mix-up, and trumpet his alternative venue.
He also told the NYT that Oracle had refunded the $1 million that Salesforce had stumped up in order to deliver the keynote.
