How Oracle’s $20 bn fundraising plan erased $11 bn from co-founder Larry Ellison’s wealth

Ellison was listed at the top of Forbes' 'Biggest Losers' list as of 4:35 am EST on Tuesday. The tally, which also mentioned Michael Dell, Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, Chinese AI businessman Chen Tianshi, and Mark Zuckerberg in the Top 5 spots, reflects daily losses in net worth among the world's richest people. Despite the massive $11 billion loss, which soared to $11.9 billion on Tuesday, the Oracle founder maintained his No. 8 ranking on Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires List.

7 billion, stood just behind Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang ($175.3 billion) and ahead of Berkshire Hathaway icon Warren Buffett ($158 billion). What prompted Larry Ellison's net worth fall? Back in September 2025, an AI-driven boom in Oracle's stock price made him the second person ever worth more than $400 billion at the time. However, a possibly AI-related move by his company, of which he owns roughly 40%, is exactly what triggered his net worth to drop over $11 billion.

As of Monday afternoon, Oracle's shares were down 8.5%, their lowest level since April, according to Forbes, despite the fundraising decision already being foregrounded at an investor day last week. The latest descent in the share price came after the company made two official filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announcing that it will raise $10 billion from common stock and $10 billion through debt offerings maturing between 2029 and 2046.

At one point, the share fell 8.8% to $119.22 after the fundraising announcement, bringing the company's losses this year to about 39%, Reuters reported. According to the official filing document, Oracle plans on using the proceeds of this offering for "general corporate purposes, which may include capital expenditures, repayment of indebtedness, future investments or acquisitions and payment of cash dividends on or repurchases of our common stock."

Similar AI patterns observed across the industry The major shakeup reflects a broader pattern of company stocks and bonds facing immense pressure, as investors grow more concerned about rising debt linked to funding AI infrastructure. Even the latest profit reports from Alphabet and other Big Tech companies have recently shown that AI may be weighing more heavily on their businesses than expected.

More than $500 billion was taken off its market value after it unveiled that AI summaries' emergence at the top in response to search queries was taking a toll on its core search advertising revenue. The company already has plans to possibly spend up to $205 billion this year on investments, of which the majority are AI-related. Oracle strives to maintain its commitment to AI On Monday, Oracle issued a formal release, asserting that it is investing in the infrastructure that "will help sustain America's technological leadership."

At the same time, it stressed that it intends to keep communities informed and "will not require nondisclosure or confidentiality agreements with state and local governments in connection with our AI data center projects going forward." Amid growing backlash against the AI data centre boom, the company said that communities should have access to information about such projects. This comes after Oracle's last month's announcement of a $1 billion investment to accelerate partner growth and AI-driven modernisation for customers.

"Spanning the next four years, the investment is intended to expand opportunities for partners to develop innovative solutions, build specialized expertise, and deliver the technology and services customers need to support business transformation and pursue improved outcomes," the tech giant stated in late October.