Oracle's Larry Ellison Scraps Plan to Sell 50 Million Shares

Oracle (ORCL) Executive Chairman Larry Ellison has canceled a plan to sell 50 million shares of the company's stock, a sudden reversal announced just one day after the trading plan was made public. The company confirmed the change in a statement on Saturday, according to a Reuters report.

Abrupt Reversal

Oracle stated that "No Oracle stock was sold under that plan, and he has no other plans to sell any of his Oracle stock." The announcement came just a day after Ellison had disclosed a trading plan that would have allowed for the sale of the shares. The quick reversal follows a period of significant volatility for the company's stock.

On Friday, Oracle shares surged as much as 7.8% after the company reported a $26 billion increase in its revenue backlog, which initially eased investor concerns over its heavy spending. However, the gains were short-lived, and the stock reversed course to close down approximately 2% as analysts noted that a recovery in cash flow was not imminent.

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Broader Capital Strategy

The backdrop to these events is Oracle's aggressive capital-raising strategy to fund a major expansion of its cloud infrastructure, driven by high demand for artificial intelligence capabilities. The company has stated it expects to raise $45 billion to $50 billion in 2026 through a mix of debt and stock sales.

This strategy is intended to build capacity for major clients including AMD, Meta, Nvidia, and OpenAI. Oracle plans to raise $40 billion through debt and equity financing in the current fiscal year and has already completed a $20 billion stock sale in the first quarter. A regulatory filing on Friday also indicated that restructuring costs, which include job cuts, are expected to increase by about $700 million.