Larry Ellison gains nearly $100 billion in Oracle stock surge

In the United States, Oracle Corporation experienced a historic surge in its stock price on a Wednesday morning, rising 38% and marking its largest single-day gain since 1992. The jump in shares propelled the company’s market capitalization from approximately $678 billion to nearly $940 billion. This rally followed the company's optimistic projections for cloud infrastructure revenue provided by CEO Safra Catz, who noted that revenue is expected to near $18 billion for the current fiscal year, nearly doubling to $32 billion in 2027, and continuing to grow significantly in subsequent years. Analysts praised Oracle’s leadership and the remarkable growth shown in remaining performance obligations, which increased by 359%, indicating strong contracted revenue yet to be recognized. However, while Oracle reported impressive projections, its first-quarter earnings and revenues fell slightly short of economists' expectations, as earnings per share were reported at $1.47 against a projection of $1.48, accompanied by revenue of $14.9 billion, below the forecast of $15 billion. The rise in stock price significantly affected Larry Ellison, Oracle’s chairman, increasing his net worth by nearly $100 billion and positioning him as one of the wealthiest individuals in the world, closely trailing Elon Musk. Analysts acknowledged the astonishing nature of these projections amid concerns that much of Oracle's bright outlook relies heavily on revenue from OpenAI, a customer that has yet to show substantial profitability. Nevertheless, Oracle's forward momentum solidifies its emerging status as a formidable contender in the competitive cloud storage market against giants like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Industry experts voiced a mix of excitement and caution, cautiously comparing the situation to the speculative environment of the 1999 dot-com boom.