Oracle confirmed on Saturday, September 12, that its co-founder and executive chairman, Larry Ellison, cancelled a trading plan that would have let him sell up to 50 million shares of the company. The stake was worth about USD 7.5 billion at Friday's closing price.
Oracle disclosed the plan in a regulatory filing just a day earlier, revealing that Ellison adopted it on June 22, 2026, with an expiry date of October 24, 2026. No shares were sold under the arrangement before it got scrapped.
The reversal came soon after commentators pointed out that a similar move would have played out very differently under European market rules, which do not allow this kind of advance disclosure.
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Oracle said in its statement that no Oracle stock was sold under that plan, and he does not plan to sell any of its Oracle stock. The arrangement fell under Rule 10b5-1, a US mechanism that lets executives schedule stock sales in advance to avoid insider trading concerns.
Europe has no direct equivalent, since EU market abuse rules simply bar company managers from trading in the 30 days before results are announced. Ellison controls close to 40% of Oracle and largely funded his spending by borrowing against his shares rather than selling them outright and paying capital gains tax.
Oracle's stock fell nearly 23% so far this year, and it sat more than 18 percent below its June 18 level, the day before Ellison set up the plan, adding pressure to the timing of any sale.
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Oracle posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results this week and raised its annual guidance, alongside a smaller-than-expected cash burn. The company added over USD 30 billion in new AI cloud contracts during the quarter, pushing its total revenue backlog to USD 664 billion.
It also raised its fiscal 2027 earnings forecast while keeping its capital spending target between USD 90 billion and USD 95 billion. Despite the upbeat numbers, Oracle's shares reversed course after an early jump, as analysts flagged that a full recovery in free cash flow still looks some way off. The company also confirmed that restructuring costs tied to ongoing job cuts would rise by close to USD 700 million.