Oracle shares dropped 2.6% in premarket Monday after the company revealed plans to raise $45 billion to $50 billion this year to boost cloud infrastructure for AI workloads. The software giant, led by billionaire Larry Ellison, intends to fund this with roughly equal parts debt and equity, including a new $20 billion at-the-market program that allows gradual share sales. This move aims to support demand from clients like AMD, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, TikTok, and xAI. The company has been under pressure following a bondholder lawsuit filed in January and a rise in its credit-default swap costs, a default insurance measure. Russ Mould of AJ Bell noted that Oracle’s fortunes now seem “tied to OpenAI,” while Jefferies analysts cautioned the plan “buys time” but may hurt margins and keep free cash flow in the red until fiscal 2029.
