Oracle shares slide on $15B increase in data center spending

Oracle stock dropped after it reported disappointing revenues on Wednesday alongside a $15 billion increase in its planned spending on data centers this year to serve artificial intelligence groups.

Shares in Larry Ellison’s database company fell 11 percent in pre-market trading on Thursday after it reported revenues of $16.1 billion in the last quarter, up 14 percent from the previous year, but below analysts’ estimates.

Oracle raised its forecast for capital expenditure this financial year by more than 40 percent to $50 billion. The outlay, largely directed to building data centers, climbed to $12 billion in the quarter, above expectations of $8.4 billion.

Its long-term debt increased to $99.9 billion, up 25 percent from a year ago.

Oracle has launched an aggressive bid to catch up to much larger cloud players such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft in the race to supply the vast amount of ...