Larry Ellison’s climb back into the world’s richest ranks hit a new snag on January 27, 2026, when Oracle’s stock dipped and he slipped behind Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg to become the sixth-richest person on the Forbes real-time list. The paper-loss shows how quickly fortunes tied to public market sentiment can wobble, even for a titan who has played the long game in American tech.
Oracle shares fell about 2.3% that morning to roughly $178.10, continuing a pullback that has erased a chunk of last year’s dramatic gains and left the stock down more than 9% for the year so far. Wall Street’s recalibration was driven in part by a sobering note from Morgan Stanley, which cut Oracle’s price target sharply and warned that the company’s infrastructure build-out could mean higher capital spending and pressure on near-term earnings.
This stumble comes on the heels of Oracle’s high-profile role in the newly formed U.S. TikTok entity, where the company will be a significant investor and will host U.S. user data and algorithm work as part of the restructuring finalized late January. The deal — which places Oracle alongside Silver Lake and other partners as a major shareholder — was hailed by elites as a national security fix, but it also puts Oracle squarely in the middle of a politicized mess with enormous operational and reputational risk.
Conservative readers should be skeptical of any corporate gambit that trades long-term shareholder value for headline-grabbing political positioning. Investors often smell when a company stretches itself to satisfy Washington or chase a high-risk deal, and markets punished Oracle’s lofty expectations even after the agreement was inked. That kind of market correction is healthy; it keeps CEOs and boards honest and reminds them that taxpayers and shareholders aren’t the same thing.
Don’t forget how quickly Ellison’s paper fortune has moved: Oracle stock rocketed in September, briefly adding more than $100 billion to his net worth, only to see nearly half of those gains evaporate since that intraday high. Those wild swings prove the point conservatives have made for years — unfettered tech booms produce fortunes that evaporate almost overnight when a few analysts or political events shift the narrative.
The TikTok deal itself was a direct consequence of Washington’s intervention — the 2024 law that forced ByteDance to divest or face a ban led to this complex restructuring that was finalized on January 22, 2026. Rather than letting the market sort things out, politicians forced a negotiated outcome that bundled national security with corporate machinations, and now American investors like Oracle are left to carry the risk and the headlines.
There are other warning signs beyond share price gyrations. Bondholders have already sued Oracle, alleging the company didn’t fully disclose how much additional debt it plans to take on for its AI and infrastructure expansion, and that kind of legal dust-up will only add fuel to investor wariness. Conservatives who believe in accountability and transparency should demand that boards stop cozying up to political theater and start protecting the balance sheet and minority investors.
Patriotic Americans can appreciate that Ellison is a homegrown success story and that Oracle plays a real role in American tech sovereignty, but success doesn’t give corporate leaders a pass to make reckless strategic deals or lean on political favors. Shareholders and the public need to insist on clear reporting, realistic forecasts, and sober stewardship of capital — otherwise you get roller-coaster fortunes and companies that chase headlines rather than profits. The market has spoken this week; let it be a lesson in fiscal discipline and sober corporate governance.
