Larry Ellison, the co-founder and executive chairman of Oracle, has scrapped a previously disclosed plan to sell a large block of his company stock, Oracle announced on Saturday. The canceled sale would have involved 50 million shares valued at roughly $7.5 billion, according to Reuters. Oracle did not give a reason for the change. No shares tied to the plan were sold, and Ellison has no other plans to sell any of his Oracle stock, the company said.
The planned sale had been laid out in a regulatory filing before the company announced it was called off. Word of the reversal came in a statement from Oracle rather than a new filing. The company’s statement addressed both the canceled transaction and Ellison’s intentions going forward. It did not elaborate on what prompted him to abandon the sale.
The news lands as Oracle shares are down 22% since the start of the year, a decline that reflects investor reaction to the company’s recent moves. Oracle has been spending heavily on data centers, a capital-intensive push that has drawn scrutiny. The company also recently became one of the major owners and security partners for TikTok’s U.S. operations.
Ellison, whose wealth is closely tied to his Oracle holdings, has also put money behind his son David’s acquisition of Warner Bros. That deal is currently being contested in court. The outcome of that litigation remains unresolved, and it is separate from the stock sale decision Oracle disclosed.
For Oracle investors, the canceled sale removes a source of potential selling pressure tied to the company’s executive chairman. Ellison’s stake in Oracle is among the largest held by any individual in the U.S. technology sector, and any move to sell a block of that size draws attention from shareholders. The company’s statement that he has no other plans to sell Oracle stock addresses that question directly.
Oracle’s business has been shifting toward cloud infrastructure and data center capacity, areas where it competes with larger cloud providers. The TikTok arrangement gave the company a prominent role in the U.S. operations of a major social media platform. Both developments have shaped how Wall Street views Oracle this year, alongside the slide in its share price.
Ellison co-founded Oracle and serves as its executive chairman, a role that keeps him involved in the company’s direction. The canceled sale was disclosed as a plan rather than a completed transaction, meaning no proceeds changed hands. Oracle’s announcement closed the matter without further explanation.
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