Topline
Larry Ellison, Oracle’s billionaire co-founder, had his net worth cut by $15 billion Tuesday as the company’s stock paced its worst loss in nearly a year, after a recent earnings report that fell short of estimates, though analysts remained optimistic about the database software firm.
Analysts remained optimistic about the database software firm despite a recent earnings report.
Key Facts
Oracle’s shares fell by more than 7% to below $177 as of around 11:40 a.m. EST, the biggest plunge for the stock since Dec. 12, 2023.
The value of Ellison’s roughly 42% stake in Oracle—totaling more than 1.1 billion shares—decreased from $218.2 billion at Monday’s close to $203 billion Tuesday.
On Monday, Oracle reported $14.06 billion in second-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings per share of $1.47, both of which fell just below analyst projections of $14.1 billion and $1.48 per share, respectively, according to FactSet.
Despite missing estimates, analysts indicated Oracle’s cloud business will likely fuel its growth: Of the 38 analysts surveyed by FactSet, none lowered their stock price target for Oracle and 14 raised their projections, including some that have the stock returning close to its record intraday high of $198 set on Monday.
Revenue from Oracle’s cloud services rose 12% year-over-year to $10.81 billion, accounting for 77% of total revenue, the company said.
Investment firm D.A. Davidson said in a note Tuesday that Oracles’ cloud infrastructure “remains heightened” as demand for AI-based computing continues to grow.
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Forbes Valuation
Ellison is the world’s third-richest person with an estimated net worth of $220 billion, which decreased by about 6% on Tuesday. Oracle’s chairman ranks behind Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, currently the second-wealthiest in the world, though the two have traded ranks multiple times in recent months. Bezos’ fortune increased by nearly 1% ($2.4 billion) to $242.3 billion Tuesday as Amazon shares rose slightly.
Big Number
83%. That’s how much Oracle’s shares increased this year as of Monday’s share price of $190.45.
Key Background
Oracle, a database software firm co-founded by Ellison, has succeeded this year alongside a rising demand for AI-based technology. Earlier this year, Deutsche Bank analysts said Oracle achieved a “triple crown” after reaching partnerships with cloud computing giants Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. Oracle also recently signed an agreement with Meta, allowing the social media firm to use Oracle’s cloud infrastructure to help with projects related to Meta’s Llama language models. Oracle raised its guidance for its 2026 fiscal year in September, saying the company expects to generate about $66 billion in revenue shortly after announcing the company would take orders for “computing clusters” built with Nvidia’s GPUS. The product was touted by Oracle as the “largest AI supercomputer in the cloud.”
