How Larry Ellison Dropped From World's 2nd-Richest To No. 8 In Just 2 Months (forbes.com)
- Reference: 0184990640
- News link: https://developers.slashdot.org/story/26/08/15/2047249/how-larry-ellison-dropped-from-worlds-2nd-richest-to-no-8-in-just-2-months
- Source link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2026/08/15/how-larry-ellison-dropped-from-worlds-2nd-richest-to-no-8-in-just-2-months/
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.
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> 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, [3]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 [4]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.
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> $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.
[1] https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/09/10/2047235/oracles-best-day-since-1992-puts-ellison-on-top-of-the-worlds-richest-list
[2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2026/08/15/how-larry-ellison-dropped-from-worlds-2nd-richest-to-no-8-in-just-2-months/
[3] https://www.reuters.com/technology/oracle-beats-fourth-quarter-revenue-estimates-2026-06-10/
[4] https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/regulatory/article/-/view/sourceId/101695609
Poor Larry (Score:2)
He'll have to cut back on, well, nothing.
Loser (Score:2)
Basically broke now.
Proprietary software is obsolete (Score:2)
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.
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: (Score:2)
"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: (Score:3)
> 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:2)
Prove it: have an AI code us up a complete Oracle replacement. Don't hurry, we'll wait.
No Sympathy Here (Score:2)
Hard to shed the tiniest of tears for Leisure Suit Larry. Doubtless he'll somehow get by on his remaining billions.
Other considerations? (Score:3)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
> 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: (Score:3)
It's not money, it never existed so it didn't have to disappear.
Re: (Score:2)
> 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?