Larry Ellison canceled his plan to sell up to 50 million shares in Oracle, a stake valued at $7.5 billion at current prices, just one day after regulatory disclosure of the trading plan.
The 10b5-1 plan, adopted June 22 and set to conclude Oct. 24, had resulted in no stock sales before cancellation, according to a news release Saturday. Ellison said he has no other plans to sell shares.
The move reflects the tension between Ellison's enormous paper wealth—he holds more than 40 percent of Oracle—and the company's deteriorating equity value. Oracle's stock has fallen roughly 23 percent this year as the database giant pours capital into AI infrastructure bets, loading its balance sheet with debt in the process.
Ellison, 82, founded Oracle in 1977 and has overseen its transformation from a legacy software provider into a cloud and AI infrastructure competitor. That pivot is expensive. The company is investing heavily to compete with established cloud providers and newer AI chip makers in a race to capture enterprise AI workloads and data center demand.
Ellison's capital is also committed to other ventures, notably through his son David Ellison, who is chief executive of Paramount Skydance. Skydance is pursuing an acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal currently facing antitrust lawsuits from state attorneys general. Ellison helped finance Skydance's initial merger with Paramount and backs the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition.
