[REVISION HISTORY]

Oracle AI spending, stock volatility and massive backlog

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2026-09-12 10:16 UTC → 2026-09-13 04:11 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Oracle’s aggressive pivot toward large-scale AI infrastructure continues to drive both growth and financial volatility. While the company maintains a massive contracted backlog, its debt-heavy strategy to fund AI data center expansion has faced scrutiny due to rising bond yields and significant capital expenditures. As of May 31, total borrowings reached $129.5 billion, supplemented by approximately $260 billion in off-balance-sheet data center obligations. On September 10, 2026, Oracle reported record first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue of $19.3 billion, a 30% increase year-over-year. This growth was primarily driven by surging demand for artificial intelligence cloud services, with cloud infrastructure revenue (IaaS) jumping 121% to $7.4 billion. The company’s remaining performance obligations (RPO) rose to $664 billion, ~~up from $638 billion in the previous quarter,~~ bolstered by over $30 billion in new AI cloud contracts signed during the period. To support this expansion, Oracle ~~has significantly increased its capital expenditures, reporting~~ reported $28.5 billion in capital expenditures for the quarter and ~~planning a net cash outlay of approximately $70 billion for fiscal 2027. This heavy spending has resulted in negative free cash flow, a continued point~~ added 850 megawatts of ~~focus for investors.~~ capacity between June and August. To manage ~~costs,~~ the high capital costs of building AI data centers, Oracle is undergoing significant restructuring. The company has ~~engaged in silent layoffs alongside~~ increased its projected restructuring costs to $2.8 billion, an increase of $700 million from previous estimates. This has involved substantial workforce ~~restructuring. Despite these pressures, Oracle raised its fiscal 2027 adjusted earnings per share guidance~~ reductions, with global headcount dropping by approximately 21,000 employees over the past year to ~~$8.10 and maintained~~ roughly 141,000 workers. In a ~~revenue forecast of at least $90 billion. Additionally,~~ notable shift, founder Larry Ellison ~~announced~~ canceled a previously announced Rule 10b5-1 trading plan on September 11, 2026, which would have allowed him to sell up to 50 million ~~shares,~~ shares valued at approximately $7.5 ~~billion, through October 2026.~~ billion. Oracle stated Ellison has no current plans to divest his holdings, which represent roughly 40% of the company.

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