Barron's:
Genius or Cliff Dive (Larry Ellison’s $300 billion dollar AI Power Play)
Oracle is riding the AI wave like a rocket, with the stock up 373% in 3 years, a reported $300B dollar OpenAI contract, and a backlog exploding to 455B dollars.
Larry Ellison, 81 and still in attack mode, is turning Oracle into the supplier of choice for AI builders, not a rival. The playbook is simple: data plus compute equals destiny. The company is loading up on capacity and customers, while Ellison pursues strategic side quests that protect the core, from the TikTok USA bid to deep ties with Skydance and Paramount.
The bill is massive. Oracle is taking on more than 90B dollars in long-term debt, sold 18B dollars in bonds in September, and could see gross margins fall from about 72 percent to about 52 percent by 2029 even as revenue soars.
If OpenAI and a few whales deliver, Ellison’s biggest bet becomes his legacy, with scale lifting profits over time. If contracts wobble or capex drags, customer concentration plus leverage becomes the plot twist. Translation: Oracle is trading margin now for AI dominance later, and Wall Street is watching.
Source:
https://www.barrons.com/articles/larry-ellison-oracle-56e03912