It has been a bruising stretch for Larry Ellison, co-founder, chief technology officer and executive chairman of Oracle. His personal fortune has fallen by nearly $200 billion since its peak in September 2025, when he briefly surpassed Elon Musk to become the world’s richest person, according to Bloomberg.
The decline was the background to Oracle rolling out its largest-ever round of layoffs to free up cash while aggressively expanding into AI infrastructure. The cuts, which began on March 31, 2026, have hit engineering hubs in India and across the globe. Employees in the US, India, Canada and Mexico received termination emails from “Oracle Leadership” at approximately 6 a.m. local time, with no prior notice from managers or HR.
Investment bank TD Cowen estimates that 20,000 to 30,000 positions could be eliminated, that’s roughly 18% of Oracle’s global workforce of approximately 162,000. Oracle has not officially confirmed the total number.
The sharp drop in Ellison’s wealth has been driven largely by a nearly 58% fall in Oracle’s share price from its September 2025 high of $345.72. The stock currently trades around $145–147, pushing Ellison from the top of the global billionaire rankings to sixth place, according to Bloomberg.
How Larry Ellison’s Fortune took $200 Billion hit in less than a year
In mid-July 2025 last year, Ellison was shining on top of the richest person of the world list. He overtook Mark Zuckerberg to become the second-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $256 billion, according to Bloomberg. Just two months later, on September 10, 2025, he reached the top spot for the first time, with his fortune touching roughly $395 billion and surpassing Elon Musk.
That moment proved fleeting. By the end of 2025, Ellison had slipped to fifth place, with a net worth of $247 billion.
2026 brought steeper losses
2026 has accelerated the decline. By March 31, 2026, Bloomberg reported that Ellison’s wealth had dropped $52.4 billion year-to-date, a fall of around 21.2%, putting him at roughly $195 billion and sixth on the global billionaire list. From his September 2025 peak to now, the total loss stands at nearly $200 billion, almost half of his fortune at its height.
Even measured from his more stable July 2025 figure of $256 billion, the decline is still a steep $55–60 billion.
What’s behind the fall
The primary driver is Oracle’s stock slide. Shares are down about 58% from their September 2025 all-time high of $345.72. The stock briefly surged after strong Q3 earnings in mid-March but remains well below its peak.
Ellison’s exposure is heavily concentrated; he owns approximately 1.16 billion Oracle shares, or about 41% of the company. With minimal diversification, his net worth moves almost entirely with one stock.
His other holdings haven’t helped. Ellison’s stakes in Tesla and Paramount Skydance are down 9.73% and 10.07%, respectively, in 2026.
Ellison’s media investments see changes
In February 2026, David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance won a bidding war against Netflix and Comcast to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $110 billion in enterprise value. Under the terms, Paramount will pay $31 per share for all outstanding WBD shares.
The transaction is funded by $47 billion in new equity, fully backed by the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners. The deal, which also required Paramount to pay Netflix’s $2.8 billion termination fee, has added a significant debt load, estimated at roughly $79 billion, to the combined entity.
Oracle layoffs hit thousands
On March 31, 2026, Oracle began notifying employees about layoffs via email. TD Cowen estimates that 20,000 to 30,000 positions could be affected globally, out of Oracle’s workforce of roughly 162,000 as of May 2025. Oracle has disclosed a $2.1 billion restructuring plan in its March 2026 SEC filing, with $982 million already recorded in the first nine months of fiscal 2026.
The financial logic is tied to Oracle’s aggressive AI infrastructure buildout. The company has committed an estimated $156 billion in capital spending on AI data centres, including partnerships under the Stargate project with OpenAI. Whereas, some reports also suggest that company is aiming to cut costs. Teams were asked to make specific budget cuts rather than reduce a fixed percentage of workforce.