Amazon chairman and founder Jeff Bezos retook the title of the world’s third-richest person from Oracle founder Larry Ellison on Wednesday after shares of the cloud giant fell more than 5%, reducing his net worth by more than $11 billion.

Key Facts

Oracle’s shares fell to $179 Wednesday afternoon, continuing a slide since it hit an all-time high in September, as the computing company grapples with debt and AI bubble concerns from investors.

Oracle dropped following a Financial Times report that its largest data center partner, Blue Owl Capital, will not support its plans for a $10 billion data center in Michigan, further spooking investors on the company’s struggles with artificial intelligence spending.

Investors have raised concerns about Oracle’s role in the circular financing deals in the artificial intelligence industry, and the company’s borrowing on the debt market.

Last week, Oracle shares dipped after the company reported second-quarter earnings that fell below Wall Street estimates.

Ellison also owns nearly half of media giant Paramount Skydance, which is embroiled in a high-profile bidding effort for Warner Bros. Discovery.

Oracle through spokesperson Michael Egbert told Forbes Blue Owl would not be working on the project because one of the company’s development partners decided not to select it, and that the Michigan project was moving forward “on schedule and according to plan.”

Forbes Valuation

Bezos’ estimated net worth grew by $400 million to $235 billion, as shares of Amazon rose by a third of a percent, taking him up our real-time billionaires list. The Amazon chairman is only behind Elon Musk and Larry Page. Ellison lost more than $11 billion of his net worth, and is now estimated to be worth $230 billion.

Key Background

Oracle has reversed course since its strong start to the year and strong earnings report in the first quarter of 2025 that led to shares of the company soaring to all-time highs. Its shares have now fallen more than 40% from their September high. Blue Owl had previously played a key role in Oracle data center projects–the company is involved in the five-company-initiative Stargate Project in Texas. Investors closely watched Oracle’s earnings report last week as a telltale sign of the AI bubble narrative, while some traders used the company’s stock as a bet against AI. The company’s latest quarterly filing showed it had close to $250 million in lease commitments for data center and cloud capacity buildouts, while being more than $120 million in debt. In September, Oracle made a $300 billion deal with OpenAI to sell computing power to the ChatGPT-maker from the start of 2027. (Forbes)

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