Oracle Raises $20B in a Day, Its Whole Budget to 2030

Oracle raised $20 billion in a single day on Monday, 2 November, splitting it between new shares and new bonds to fund the data centres behind its AI cloud business. According to its prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the company offered $10 billion of common stock and, at the same time, $10 billion of senior notes.

The raise uses up, in one go, the funding limit Oracle set itself five days earlier. At its investor day on 28 October, the company "committed to limiting additional capital raises through FY30 to $20 billion, excluding refinancing of existing debt, split between $10 billion in equity and $10 billion in gross debt." That comes on top of a $20 billion at-the-market share sale it completed in the first quarter of its 2027 financial year.

What investors are paying for

The bonds came in five parts, according to Oracle's final pricing term sheet: $2 billion due 2029 at 7%, $1.75 billion due 2031 at 7.45%, $2.25 billion due 2033 at 7.85%, $2.5 billion due 2037 at 8% and $1.5 billion due 2046 at 8.65%. The notes settle on 4 November. The expected ratings are Baa2 with a negative outlook from Moody's, BBB- from S&P and BBB from Fitch, the bottom rungs of investment grade.

The share price was not in the preliminary filing, which used Oracle's 30 October close of $130.67. GuruFocus, via Yahoo Finance, reports that the stock was sold at $116 a share, about 86.2 million shares, an 11.2% discount to that close, and that Oracle's shares fell 8.8% after the announcement.

Oracle says the money will go to general corporate purposes, which may include capital spending, repaying debt, investments or acquisitions, dividends and share buybacks. The prospectus also shows how much the company already owes: about $236.1 billion of consolidated debt as of 31 August, with the ability to borrow up to $19.7 billion more under its credit line and commercial paper programme. It expects to take on more liabilities through vendor financing and leases.

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The plan behind the bill

At the investor day, Oracle set a target of $225 billion or more in revenue for its 2030 financial year, more than 35% growth a year from fiscal 2026, and reaffirmed at least $90 billion for fiscal 2027. It said capital spending peaks in fiscal 2027 and 2028, that free cash flow turns positive in the second half of fiscal 2028, and that it expects at least $30 billion of free cash flow in fiscal 2029, when growth becomes self-funded.

Until then, the company says vendor financing, hardware supplied by customers and customer prepayments will cut how much cash it needs up front. Those are company targets, not results.