--- title: "Larry Ellison pledged 413 million Oracle shares to fund the Warner deal as Oracle's CDS hits 322 basis points" description: "Ellison scrapped a $7.5 billion Oracle share sale in September and pledged Oracle, Tesla and SpaceX stock instead to fund his son's Warner deal, just as Oracle's credit spread hit 322 basis points and Skydance took a $1 billion check from Musk. October 28's Investor Day is the first test of whether the founder's leverage matters to the company's." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Economy" published: 2026-10-25T14:11:19.190Z modified: 2026-10-25T14:11:19.190Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/larry-ellison-pledged-413-million-oracle-shares-to-fund-the-warner-deal-as-oracle-s-cds-hits-322-basis-points language: en keywords: "Oracle, Larry Ellison, Credit, Debt, Warner Bros. Discovery, Leverage" --- # Larry Ellison pledged 413 million Oracle shares to fund the Warner deal as Oracle's CDS hits 322 basis points > Ellison scrapped a $7.5 billion Oracle share sale in September and pledged Oracle, Tesla and SpaceX stock instead to fund his son's Warner deal, just as Oracle's credit spread hit 322 basis points and Skydance took a $1 billion check from Musk. October 28's Investor Day is the first test of whether the founder's leverage matters to the company's. Larry Ellison had a plan to pay for his son's Warner Bros. Discovery takeover: sell up to 50 million [Oracle](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/oracle) shares, about $7.5 billion at the June price [2][3][4]. On September 12, with Oracle stock sagging, he canceled the sale and borrowed instead, [pledging shares of Oracle, Tesla and SpaceX as loan collateral](https://qz.com/larry-ellison-pledged-stock-loans-warner-bros-deal-102126) [2][3][4]. The deal closed October 6 [2][3][4]. What reads as media-deal gossip is actually a founder staking his family's bet on the price of a stock that is down 62% from its September 2025 peak [2][3][4]. ## The collateral grew exactly as the stock fell Liens filed in California show [Citigroup](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/citigroup), HSBC, JPMorgan, UBS and [BNP Paribas](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/bnp-paribas) holding combined claims on 87 million Oracle shares, up from roughly 30 million a year earlier [2]. [Oracle's proxy puts Ellison's total pledged shares at 413 million as of September 21](https://x.com/WSJ/status/2112720469384163833), versus 346 million a year before [2]. Lenders typically advance half the value of a stock like Oracle's; the 87 million shares could support about $5.7 billion [2]. ## The company balance sheet is levered too Oracle carries roughly $169 billion of total debt after an S&P downgrade this year, and its $664 billion contract backlog is heavily tied to [OpenAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/openai) [1]. The credit market is pricing that risk: Oracle's [five-year credit default swap spread hit 322 basis points on Monday](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/options/articles/why-investors-buying-credit-default-115400301.html), more than double the 144 basis points of January [5]. AI-linked CDS trading ran above $9 billion a week in September, versus under $2 billion in July, on $466 billion of AI debt issued this year [5]. *Chart: **Credit markets price Oracle as the second-riskiest AI name after CoreWeave** Bars ranking five-year credit default swap spreads for CoreWeave, Oracle, SpaceX, Meta and Nvidia in October 2026, with Oracle highlighted in gold.* *Five-year CDS spreads in basis points, October 2026 quotes: Oracle 322 (Monday), CoreWeave about 1,090, SpaceX record 226, Meta 108 and Nvidia 101, both records. Source: Yahoo Finance, October 25, 2026. [5]* ## One price feeds both bets Ellison still owns about 40% of Oracle and [has lost roughly $194 billion of net worth](https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/oracle-boss-larry-ellison-just-214700640.html), leaving about $182 billion [1]. Across the table, his family's debt-laden [Skydance](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/skydance), carrying nearly $80 billion after the merger, just [took a roughly $1 billion equity check from Elon Musk](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/22/elon-musk-skydance-investment.html) [6]. Cheap credit and a high ORCL price hold both structures up. Oracle's [Investor Day at AI World on October 28](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oracle-investor-day-meeting-to-be-held-october-28-2026-302918062.html) is the first scheduled Q&A since the pledging surfaced and CDS printed its new high [7]. The question for management is whether the anchor shareholder's collateral math adds forced-seller risk to a stock the bond market already treats as AI's biggest credit worry. Oracle's board says Ellison can repay without touching the pledged stock and that the loans pose no material risk to shareholders; the counterparty to that assurance is the CDS market, and it is not nodding along [2][5]. ## Takeaway Ellison swapped a $7.5 billion Oracle share sale for loans backed by 413 million pledged shares, and with Oracle's five-year CDS at 322 basis points the credit market, not the board's assurance, is now the referee of both the family's and the company's leverage. ## Sources 1. [TheStreet via Yahoo Finance, Oracle boss Larry Ellison just suffered a historic wealth collapse, 21 October 2026](https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/oracle-boss-larry-ellison-just-214700640.html) 2. [Quartz, Larry Ellison pledged Oracle, Tesla and SpaceX stock for loans before son's Warner deal closed, 21 October 2026](https://qz.com/larry-ellison-pledged-stock-loans-warner-bros-deal-102126) 3. [@WSJ on X, Ellison borrowing spree for son's Warner Bros. bid using Oracle, Tesla and SpaceX shares as collateral, October 2026](https://x.com/WSJ/status/2112720469384163833) 4. [@StockMKTNewz on X, Ellison borrowed against his stock instead of selling it, October 2026](https://x.com/StockMKTNewz/status/2112702872701771816) 5. [Yahoo Finance, Why Are Investors Buying Credit Default Swaps to Hedge AI-Related Debt?, 25 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/options/articles/why-investors-buying-credit-default-115400301.html) 6. [CNBC, Elon Musk invests about $1 billion in Skydance, 22 October 2026](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/22/elon-musk-skydance-investment.html) 7. [PR Newswire, Oracle Investor Day Meeting to be held October 28, 2026, 23 October 2026](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oracle-investor-day-meeting-to-be-held-october-28-2026-302918062.html) --- Larry Ellison pledged 413 million Oracle shares to fund the Warner deal as Oracle's CDS hits 322 basis points — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/larry-ellison-pledged-413-million-oracle-shares-to-fund-the-warner-deal-as-oracle-s-cds-hits-322-basis-points