Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison’s estimated net worth fell by $11 billion in a single day after the company announced plans to raise $20 billion through debt and equity offerings.
The fundraising announcement triggered a sharp decline in Oracle shares as investors raised concerns about the company’s growing debt and the financial risks associated with its ambitious AI infrastructure investments. According to Forbes, Ellison’s estimated net worth fell by $11 billion to $160 billion on Monday. Despite the decline, he retained eighth place on Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List.
“This seems to be exactly what they previewed, so I’m not sure why the market is freaking out about it,” said Rob Oliver, senior research analyst at Baird.
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Oracle shares fell as much as 8.8% during Monday’s trading session, reaching $119.22, their lowest level since April. Since the beginning of the year, the company’s stock has lost about 39% of its value.
Oracle announced plans to raise $20 billion through two separate offerings. The company intends to generate $10 billion by selling common stock and another $10 billion through debt offerings. It subsequently priced 86.2 million shares at $116 each, an 11.2% discount to Friday’s closing price. The debt offering includes fixed-rate bonds with maturities ranging from 2029 to 2046 and interest rates between 7% and 8.65%.
The company said the proceeds would be used for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures, repayment of existing debt, future investments and acquisitions, dividends, and share buybacks.
The fundraising comes as Oracle accelerates its investments in AI data centers and cloud infrastructure to meet growing customer demand. The company is expanding its capacity to support major AI companies, including OpenAI.
However, the scale of these investments has raised concerns among investors, particularly as Oracle has set an ambitious target of more than tripling its revenue to over $225 billion by fiscal 2030.
Meanwhile, the company reported revenue of $67.36 billion in fiscal 2026, compared with approximately $125.34 billion in outstanding borrowings as of Aug. 31. Investors are concerned that additional borrowing could put pressure on its balance sheet if returns from AI spending take longer than expected.
Oracle shares had previously surged during the AI-driven stock market rally, briefly making Ellison the world’s richest person in September 2025.
Oracle also faces competition from larger cloud providers such as Microsoft and Amazon, which have greater financial resources to support their AI expansion.
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Oracle is not alone in facing investor concerns over the financial implications of the AI boom. Recent developments at other major technology companies have also raised questions about whether the returns from AI investments will meet expectations.
Alphabet lost approximately $500 billion in market value on Oct. 29, after its shares plunged 13% following its quarterly results. Although the company reported a 25% increase in overall revenue to $127.6 billion, investors raised concerns about slowing search advertising growth and the rising costs of its AI investments. Google executives also acknowledged that AI Mode queries generated lower advertising revenue than traditional search queries. Google Search and other advertising revenue grew 12% to $63.35 billion during the quarter.