Oracle Stock Soars 36%, Larry Ellison Nears World’s Richest Title

Oracle shares skyrocketed 35.95% on September 10, marking their biggest single-day gain since 1992 and setting a new all-time high. The rally added $244 billion in market value, pushing the company’s capitalization to $922 billion.

Cloud Contract Backlog Stuns Wall Street

On September 9, Oracle revealed a massive surprise: a $455 billion backlog of signed but not yet realized contracts (RPO)—a staggering 359% increase year-over-year. Analysts had only expected around $180 billion.

Ben Reitzes, Head of Technology Research at Melius Research, told CNBC: “This is a historic report. Wall Street was looking for $180 billion, and Oracle delivered multiple times that figure. Simply astonishing.”

The surge highlights Oracle’s emergence as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, fueled by its cloud infrastructure business and access to Nvidia GPUs—critical components for running large-scale AI workloads. Still, Oracle faces fierce competition from tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.

Larry Ellison’s Wealth Skyrockets

Thanks to the stock’s historic rally, Oracle founder Larry Ellison saw his fortune swell by $100 billion in a single day. Bloomberg reported that Ellison briefly surpassed Tesla CEO Elon Musk to become the world’s richest person. However, Forbes’ real-time billionaire index, last updated at 5 p.m. ET on September 10, still listed Musk ahead of Ellison.

Cloud Growth Outlook and Analyst Reactions

Oracle projects cloud infrastructure revenue will reach $18 billion in fiscal 2026, with explosive growth to follow: $32 billion, $73 billion, $114 billion, and $144 billion over the next four years.

Wall Street analysts reacted with surprise and enthusiasm:

Gil Luria (D.A. Davidson): called the results “absolutely incredible.”

Wells Fargo: described the backlog as “important proof” of AI-driven opportunities.

Deutsche Bank: labeled Q1 results “truly exceptional,” maintained a “buy” rating, and raised its price target from $240 to $335.

Bank of America: upgraded Oracle from “neutral” to “buy,” affirming its role as “a pillar of the AI ecosystem.”

Q1 Earnings Miss Overshadowed by AI Momentum

Interestingly, the bullish outlook on cloud and AI overshadowed a weaker-than-expected Q1 earnings report. Oracle fell short of Wall Street’s estimates on both revenue and profit:

Adjusted EPS: $1.47 per share, versus $1.48 expected.

Revenue: $14.93 billion, below the forecast of $15.04 billion.

Despite the miss, investors appear more focused on Oracle’s long-term positioning in AI infrastructure, rather than short-term performance.