Oracles’s Ellison Becomes World’s Richest as Stock Jumps 30% on AI Pivot
Oracle shares soared more than 30% on Tuesday, marking one of the sharpest rallies ever for a company valued above $500 billion. The surge came after the software giant unveiled a bold artificial intelligence (AI) pivot, record-breaking cloud contracts, and a half-trillion-dollar revenue backlog that stunned Wall Street.
The company’s Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) division is now expected to generate $18 billion in revenue this fiscal year, rising to $32 billion by 2027, and reaching $144 billion within the following three years, according to CEO Safra Catz. More striking was Oracle’s reported $455 billion in remaining performance obligations (RPO)—a backlog of booked but not yet recognized revenue—representing a 359% year-over-year increase.
Catz suggested this figure could soon exceed $500 billion, citing several pending multibillion-dollar contracts. “Over the next few months, we expect to sign several additional multi-billion-dollar customers,” she told investors.
Oracle’s appeal lies in its neutral AI positioning. Unlike rivals, it offers enterprises the ability to run models such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok directly within its database stack, cutting complexity and costs. Partnerships with OpenAI, SoftBank, and the Stargate Project further cement its role in the AI infrastructure race.
The rally catapulted founder Larry Ellison past Elon Musk as the world’s richest person, with his net worth swelling by nearly $100 billion to around $393–400 billion. Analysts noted Oracle’s heavy AI-focused capital expenditures—about $35 billion earmarked for data centres and chip supply—could weigh on margins, but for now, investor enthusiasm is overwhelming.
In its latest quarter, Oracle also reported $14.9 billion in revenue, up 12% year-over-year, with cloud services jumping 28% to $7.2 billion. Analysts at Piper Sandler and Bank of America upgraded the stock, calling the AI-driven backlog “too strong to ignore.”
For Oracle, AI is no longer a talking point—it’s a growth engine. Whether this momentum becomes a lasting transformation depends on execution, but for now, the company has Wall Street enthralled and Ellison back on top of the global wealth rankings.
