Oracle shares surged about 43 percent to a record high on Wednesday, putting the company on track to join the elite trillion-dollar club and propelling co-founder Larry Ellison closer to the top of the world’s richest list.
The company unveiled four multi-billion-dollar contracts on Tuesday, amid an industry-wide shift, led by companies such as OpenAI and xAI, to aggressively spend to secure the massive computing capacity needed to stay ahead in the AI race.
The stock was last up 36.7 percent, after rising to hit a record high of US$345.69, set for its biggest one-day percentage jump since 1992.
Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that OpenAI has signed a contract to purchase US$300 billion in computing power from Oracle over roughly five years, marking one of the biggest cloud contracts ever signed.
A majority of the new revenue Oracle described on Tuesday will come from the OpenAI deal, the report said. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request, while Oracle declined to comment.
Ellison, 81, whose net worth is largely derived from his 41 percent stake in Oracle, saw his fortune rise by about US$100 billion to around US$392.6 billion, according to Forbes.
He is rapidly closing in on Tesla chief Elon Musk in the race for the title of the world’s richest person. Musk’s net worth last stood at US$439.9 billion.
Oracle will add about US$234 billion to its market valuation, taking the total to around US$913 billion, if gains hold, and bringing the company closer to the coveted US$1 trillion-dollar club.
