Oracle’s annual proxy filing revealed a massive CEO-to-employee pay ratio when it was submitted Friday, also showing a leadership-transition pay structure that handed new co-CEOs nearly $900 million in stock options.
Key Facts
- The proxy filing showed a 6,623-to-1 CEO pay ratio, meaning for every dollar the company’s median employee made, the CEO (in this case co-CEO Clayton Magouyrk) made $6,623.
- Magouyrk received a stock-option award valued at $621.7 million, while median Oracle employee pay was $94,740, according to the filing.
- Oracle’s CEO pay ratio was 11-to-1 in fiscal 2025, when former CEO Safra Catz earned $1.1 million in total compensation, compared to median employee pay of $98,899.
Surprising Fact
Tangent
The proxy filing also disclosed Ellison-linked entities purchased about $32.3 million in Oracle products and services in fiscal 2026, including nearly $22 million from the Ellison Institute of Technology alone. Ellison founded the research and philanthropic organization in 2015. Oracle simultaneously paid Ellison’s F50 League sailing operation about $7.5 million under a sponsorship agreement.
What To Watch For
A class action lawsuit concerning Oracle’s cloud infrastructure disclosures has a full briefing due this December, the outcome of which could determine whether the case advances to discovery involving Ellison and co-CEOs Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit accused Oracle of concealing financial strains caused by its artificial intelligence expansion.
Key Background
Catz stepped down as Oracle’s chief executive in September 2025 and was succeeded by Magouyrk and Sicilia. The two chiefs’ option grants were framed as one-time promotional packages but could not be used because the exercise price of $308.46 exceeded Oracle’s stock price at the time, meaning neither Magouyrk nor Sicilia could profit. The company’s stock price sits around the $133 mark as of Monday and is down over 30% since the start of the year, when shares traded at $195.71. Oracle shares reached an all-time high of $308.66 last September.
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Ellison’s net worth at $176.7 billion as of Monday afternoon, making him the eighth-wealthiest person in the world.
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