from Hacker News

Oracle is in course to make Larry Ellison the world’s richest man

by ptype on 6/14/23, 4:37 PM with 39 comments

  • by saaaaaam on 6/15/23, 8:35 AM

    I always find it strange that the “wealth” of people like Larry Ellison is based on the public market price of their companies. He owns 42% or Oracle, and so there is no way that he could realise that value at current market rates. Oracle has more debt than it has assets, and a significant proportion of that debt has been used to implement a stock buy back, putting cash in Larry’s pocket and increasing his ownership share of the company, and therefore his nominal wealth. If the company can keep borrowing it could buy back more of the stock giving him majority ownership of a company that would technically be worth less than nothing, and become the richest man in the world.

    Wizardry!

    (I know that’s not how valuation of companies like this works, but even so…)

  • by hourago on 6/15/23, 12:47 AM

    > During the company’s latest quarterly earnings call on June 12th the septuagenarian rhapsodised youthfully about artificial intelligence (AI) and the latest cloud-computing technology.

    The joy of writing about the rich while ignoring society struggles.- The Economist

  • by WisNorCan on 6/15/23, 1:55 AM

    Oracle is one of those companies like Microsoft which many in the tech industry wrote off years ago.

    Neither one qualified for the illustrious FAANG acronym.

    Ideally, when these things happen people would examine their blindspots.

  • by rufus_foreman on 6/15/23, 12:18 PM

    Richest man?

    This is a violation of the well-known rule, "Do not fall into the trap of anthropomorphising Larry Ellison".

  • by vr46 on 6/14/23, 10:37 PM

    "Larry, you don't need any more money" - Steve Jobs

    (https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-larry-ellison-201...)

  • by floatinglotus on 6/14/23, 11:43 PM

    Rolls eyes.

    Oracle is such a monstrosity of a company, it constantly shoots itself in the foot and makes bad decisions because of their enterprise-licensing-DNA.

    Every time I read a story about Oracle doing well I have to check the source and am extremely suspicious.

  • by gary_0 on 6/14/23, 11:17 PM

    Only cream and bastards rise, and I'm not sure about the cream.

  • by euroderf on 6/15/23, 8:14 AM

    Troll Proposal:

    Make an SQLite add-on that accepts Oracle SQL and configuration. Enhance, with verve.

  • by pedalpete on 6/14/23, 11:10 PM

  • by fragmede on 6/14/23, 10:01 PM

    > Oracle is *on course to make Larry Ellison the world’s *third-richest man

  • by Gud on 6/15/23, 9:43 AM

    Every time I see these articles I smile to myself.

    Do people seriously think these guys are richer than Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud? Or Vladimir Putin? They have nation states at their disposal. Golden palaces. Large armies. National oil and gas industries under their control.

    Their wealth and power is so obscene it’s hard to even quantify.

  • by svaha1728 on 6/14/23, 11:32 PM

    Crushed it... and many people in the process.

  • by midoridensha on 6/15/23, 12:42 AM

    Better him than Elon, at least. Ellison is smart enough not to constantly show himself as a buffoon in public.

  • by miohtama on 6/14/23, 10:48 PM

    Good lawyers. Good company.

  • by turtleyacht on 6/14/23, 4:41 PM

    on* course