How Larry Ellison Dropped From World's 2nd-Richest To No. 8 In Just 2 Months (forbes.com) 47
Less than a year ago he was the #1 richest man in the world. 10 weeks ago he was #2. But yesterday Larry Ellison dropped to #8, Forbes reports, falling behind Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
Ellison's net worth is now estimated at just $192.6 billion — after a $104 billion decline: Shares of Oracle plunged roughly 54% between hitting a high of just over $250 on June 1 to a low of $114.50 on July 28, though the stock rebounded slightly to $150.52 as of Friday.
A decline followed Oracle telling investors it expected to raise $40 billion through debt and equity financing, with capital expenditures surging 162% to $55.7 billion and spending expected to top $95 billion by fiscal 2027. Jacob Bourne, an analyst at eMarketer, told Reuters there are broader concerns about how Oracle would fund its capital spending to match its revenue projections, and Bank of America analysts separately flagged in a note cautioning that more than 50% of Oracle's remaining performance obligation comes from OpenAI. Melius Research analysts wrote last month that Oracle's spending plans may not hold if OpenAI or Anthropic demands more computing capacity. S&P Global also downgraded Oracle's credit rating in July, arguing the firm's "rapidly expanding" AI infrastructure business could pay off, but may be too expensive and could weaken Oracle's financial position in the meantime.
$443 billion. That's how much Oracle's market valuation has dropped since peaking at $877.1 billion in September, hitting $433.5 billion as of Friday... Oracle, once viewed as a potential winner of the booming AI infrastructure buildout, has since raised concerns among investors who appear to view the firm as taking on too much financial risk to fund its projects. Wall Street has cautioned that mega-cap tech firms may be taking on too much spending to match growing demand for AI products, with firms like Amazon expecting to spend more than $200 billion. Oracle's backlog has exploded to $638 billion, but more than half is reportedly associated with OpenAI, and some analysts have cautioned that most of those funds may not be guaranteed.
Ellison's net worth is now estimated at just $192.6 billion — after a $104 billion decline: Shares of Oracle plunged roughly 54% between hitting a high of just over $250 on June 1 to a low of $114.50 on July 28, though the stock rebounded slightly to $150.52 as of Friday.
A decline followed Oracle telling investors it expected to raise $40 billion through debt and equity financing, with capital expenditures surging 162% to $55.7 billion and spending expected to top $95 billion by fiscal 2027. Jacob Bourne, an analyst at eMarketer, told Reuters there are broader concerns about how Oracle would fund its capital spending to match its revenue projections, and Bank of America analysts separately flagged in a note cautioning that more than 50% of Oracle's remaining performance obligation comes from OpenAI. Melius Research analysts wrote last month that Oracle's spending plans may not hold if OpenAI or Anthropic demands more computing capacity. S&P Global also downgraded Oracle's credit rating in July, arguing the firm's "rapidly expanding" AI infrastructure business could pay off, but may be too expensive and could weaken Oracle's financial position in the meantime.
$443 billion. That's how much Oracle's market valuation has dropped since peaking at $877.1 billion in September, hitting $433.5 billion as of Friday... Oracle, once viewed as a potential winner of the booming AI infrastructure buildout, has since raised concerns among investors who appear to view the firm as taking on too much financial risk to fund its projects. Wall Street has cautioned that mega-cap tech firms may be taking on too much spending to match growing demand for AI products, with firms like Amazon expecting to spend more than $200 billion. Oracle's backlog has exploded to $638 billion, but more than half is reportedly associated with OpenAI, and some analysts have cautioned that most of those funds may not be guaranteed.
Cui bono? (Score:3, Insightful)
That money didn't just disappear. Somebody made bank... Unless it never existed to begin with, eh?
Re: (Score:1)
Unless it never existed to begin with, eh?
Today's Wall Street value is a lot like girl math.
It shouldn't exist. But for some reason it does. And somehow pretends to create value while being wholly unaccountable to Reality.
Re: Cui bono? (Score:2)
Re:Cui bono? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not money, it never existed so it didn't have to disappear.
Re: (Score:2)
It's not money, it never existed so it didn't have to disappear.
Oracle's average daily trading volume from June 1 to July 28 was between 27 and 36 million shares per day. That's actual money changing hands. Some of it may have just flown back-and-forth between buying and selling the stock, but that money didn't just disappear. It did exist, and still does, for those who sold their shares and haven't bought anything else with the proceeds.
When you trade shares, you don't experience a profit or loss until you close your position. Losing money on a trade doesn't mean your
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, some people who bought high and sold low lost some money. It wasn't anywhere near $443 billion though. Oracle has almost 3 billion shares, only half of which are even publicly traded. Ellison himself owns about 40%.
Re:Cui bono? (Score:5, Informative)
Yes but thats no bearing at all on the shares Ellison owned.
3 people A, B, and C own 1 share of a company valued at $10 per share, total market cap of the company is $30.
A decides to sell his share to B for $20. Each share is now valued at $20, so total market cap of the company is $60..
C was not involved in that transaction at all, but his shares doubled in value from $10 to $20. ON PAPER. He never transacted at all.
This is how the stock market works, at a much higher scale It is also why the idea of taxing unrealized gains is stupid. You're taxing money that doesn't actually exist. The real problem (and thing that needs to be dealt with) is people using unrealized gains to secure loans.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm trying to figure out whether that's the best place to attack it (getting the loans part), and I don't have the financial wherewithal to figure it out. The ultimate dodge is when the heirs get a stepped up basis on those assets when it comes time to pay back the loans. That really looks like a rule written by the rich for the rich. Get rid of that loophole and much of the benefit of using trick goes away. (And I say that even though my heirs could potentially benefit from this, though to a much small
Re: (Score:1)
That money didn't just disappear. Somebody made bank... Unless it never existed to begin with, eh?
Don't understand how stock valuation works, do you?
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't understand how stock valuation works, do you?
Yes I do. It's a hustle created during a pump and dump scheme.
Poor Larry (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I'd like to play my violin for him but I can't find it. It's the world's smallest violin so it's easy to lose.
I guess I'll just have to play a few notes on the trombone instead.
Re: (Score:2)
He'll have to cut back on, well, nothing.
What do you mean "nothing". This means he cant use someone else’s money to buy another tropical island where he can be protected and isolated from people like you or I when the revolution comes...
Billionaires like Larry are suffering, their valet has to walk 5 miles to get bottles of artisan water every day. You can help this, donate $30 per day to the Make a Fortune foundation and change the plight of a billionaire.
Loser (Score:2)
Proprietary software is obsolete (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
MMmmm, I understand the sentiment. But I think you'll find that's not true. The Oracle database, alone, has a long history of engineering behind it that has not truly been replicated by other products. Of course, this is really only relevant for corner cases, but these exist, and they're usually folks who have big budgets (like governments, or large enterprises). And at that level, what they're paying for is not the technology as-shipped, but the support ... which means you have a "throat to choke" in terms
Re: Proprietary software is obsolete (Score:3)
What can Oracle do realistically that you can't make work in PostgreSQL?
Re: Proprietary software is obsolete (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
There are may commercial companies that sell support for PostgreSQL, and will take the bullet when a problem occurs. But I think Random361's question was about technical capability, not support.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
There are may commercial companies that sell support for PostgreSQL, and will take the bullet when a problem occurs. But I think Random361's question was about technical capability, not support.
One example - Oracle AWR reports. When I get call for the software I work on and they've narrowed it down to "database performance", I can look at an Oracle AWR report fairly quickly and tell you what's going on. PostgreSQL - takes a few hours to uncover the same details. pg_profile exists, but why isn't it shipped and enabled out of the box? The number of customer environments where getting it installed is the first step to troubleshooting is ridiculous.
Another example - backups. pg_dump of a multi
Re: Proprietary software is obsolete (Score:4, Informative)
What can Oracle do realistically that you can't make work in PostgreSQL?
Have stored procedures return result sets.
Re: (Score:2)
Use a global plan cache, not one that is per-backend
Re: (Score:3)
"Anything that isn't already open source can have an AI replacement coded in hours now. "
False. The vast majority of software is embedded, that software cannot be replaced in hours. It would take longer to just communicate the platform information needed to begin.
All software that is shit can replaced in hours. Seems like the only software /. posters know.
Re:Proprietary software is obsolete (Score:5, Informative)
Anything that isn't already open source can have an AI replacement coded in hours now. Oracle's business model no longer works in 2026 and Ellison should cash out before it's too late.
Various PostgreSQL variants (with additions) is already quite close to Oracle DB, but many enterprises want to be running a DB certified for their (for example) ERP solutions, and have been willing to pay (Oracle) for that extra paperwork. Sort of like no one likes VMWare, no one likes Oracle, but the cost to get out is higher than what many enterprises are prepared to spend today for a future reduction in costs.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
This point is valid. It did not deserve a Troll mod.
The OP xack is way over his skis when he says "Anything that isn't already open source can have an AI replacement coded in hours now." Many things maybe. But not anything.
Re: (Score:2)
You're seriously going to vibe code a replacement for Oracle's DBMS and then trust it with your data?
Re: Proprietary software is obsolete (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
You must be high on the finest of AI cool-aid if you think you can vibe code a replacement for Oracle's products.
Hint: None of the expense and complexity has to do with coding.
Re: (Score:2)
If there's an actual mechanism to this outcome for him, it's the inverse of what you seem to think.
He's over invested in new data centers that are all taking longer to build than projected, has debt to service because of that that he needs the AI companies to pay for, and they have not yet demonstrated that they can actually be profitable enough to ever do that.
Re: Proprietary software is obsolete (Score:2)
Oh ho ho⦠you sweet summer child. Daaaaw, look at you with your little APIâ(TM)s, a few desktops, a server thinking this. Itâ(TM)s just so⦠so KYOOOOOT! You. Are. Adorbs.
Pro tip tho? Try working for a very big organization and understanding that delivered software such as this isnâ(TM)t going anywhere anytime soon, and is definitely not obsolete.
No Sympathy Here (Score:2)
Other considerations? (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe just having the most money isn't his Paramount concern ...
I'm not Too Proud (Score:2)
I'm not too proud. I would actually take pleasure in being the world's 1,000th richest man.
POOF (Score:4, Insightful)
Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Ellisons have run around like princes, and they bet the farm on AI. Seems like one of the first to burn over the AI bubble might be the Oracle gongshow. The world had better not bail the azzhats out when it all comes crashing down.
Re: (Score:2)
To my understanding, Oracle didn't just bet everything on AI, they bet on OpenAI specifically. Every other hyperscaler placed their chips on both OpenAI and Anthropic, Only Oracle didn't.
And yes, when OpenAI falls, it is bound to take Oracle down with it. As a whole, not just their cloud division, perhaps even reduce Ellison to a mere millionaire. Especially as the Paramount-Warner Bros merger deal has hit some snags and Ellison appears to have put up his own wealth as collateral with that deal.
Good News! (Score:4, Funny)
Oh no! (Score:3)
He went from being unfathomably, criminally wealthy to unfathomably criminally wealthy.
Re: (Score:2)
parasites (Score:2)
my council is tensor.
do not cross a river with one on your back
The top of the market is all fantasy (Score:2)
And who cares about this PoS, who has always been a PoS (have *you* worked with Oracle?)? Everyone who had money - including indexed funds - has just lost a ton of fantasy money.