Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle, experienced a significant reduction in his net worth by $15 billion on Tuesday. This occurred as Oracle’s stock faced its steepest decline in nearly a year, following an earnings report that did not meet expectations. Despite this, analysts remain positive about the company’s future.
As of 11:40 a.m. EST, Oracle’s shares had dropped over 7% to below $177, marking the largest drop since December 12, 2023. Ellison’s 42% stake in Oracle, which comprises over 1.1 billion shares, saw its value decrease from $218.2 billion at Monday’s close to $203 billion on Tuesday.
On Monday, Oracle announced its second-quarter revenue of $14.06 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $1.47. Both figures fell slightly short of analyst expectations, which were $14.1 billion in revenue and $1.48 per share, according to FactSet.
Despite the shortfall, analysts believe Oracle’s cloud business will drive future growth. Of the 38 analysts surveyed by FactSet, none lowered their stock price target for Oracle, and 14 even raised their projections. Some analysts predict the stock will return to its record intraday high of $198, set on Monday.
Oracle reported a 12% year-over-year increase in revenue from its cloud services, totaling $10.81 billion and accounting for 77% of the company’s total revenue.
Investment firm D.A. Davidson noted on Tuesday that Oracle’s cloud infrastructure remains strong, driven by the growing demand for AI-based computing.