BREAKING: Oracle Pays $115 Million for Snooping on Americans...

Well it looks like Larry Ellison has finally decided to face the music and fork over a whopping $115 million to make his expensive problems go away. 

(Source: The Register) 

Obviously, this has been a longtime coming since the original motion was filed back in 2022 when Oracle was accused of their up to no good antics. But to sum up the gist of it: Ellison's prized tech conglomerate had allegedly cooked up "digital dossiers" on millions of individuals, chock-full of juicy details like web browsing history, shopping habits, and even the lowdown on banking activities. Translation: They were trying to be Google and Meta. 

(Source: Giphy) 

However, the plaintiffs argued that Oracle's actions violated both state and federal privacy laws, as well as California's constitution. (Read: California’s Revenge for Tech Companies Moving to Austin, Texas). 

Yet, in typical billionaire fashion, Oracle has been sticking to its guns to deny any wrongdoing at all. But hey, actions speak louder than words, and coughing up $115 million suggests they knew they were skating on thin ice. 

(Source: Giphy) 

Now with that said, while the settlement still requires a head nod from the federal judge, this pay-off supposedly covers individuals whose personal property has been collected or sold by Oracle since August 19, 2018. Plus as part of the agreement, Oracle has committed to significant changes in its data collection practices. Specifically, Oracle will cease gathering certain user-generated information from external URLs and online forms. Ooof…

(Source: CRN) 

Of course, most would assume that the killing of Oracle’s data-collection revenues would negatively impact it’s stock price… but a curveball was thrown as the stock actually perked up after the news broke with Oracle being up +1.95% MTD and +37.03% YTD. 

So could this just be that investors are breathing a sigh of relief now that this monkey is off Oracle’s back? Who knows, but it’s clear that Oracle's decision to pull the plug on their advertising business, which was already circling the drain, fits like a glove with the settlement terms. 

(Source: Giphy) 

For instance, on an earnings call in June, Oracle CEO Safra Catz noted that the company had decided to exit the advertising business, which had shrunk to about $300 million in revenue for fiscal year 2024. Meaning, this settlement only accelerates Oracle's shift away from data-intensive advertising products.

Safra Catz (Source: Acceleration Economy) 

Keep in mind, Oracle’s settlement comes at a time when regulators are tightening the screws on data protection laws, and companies are being put through the wringer for their data practices.Think Google’s antitrust lawsuit. 

(Source: CIO) 

So with Oracle's $115 million settlement, this is no doubt a significant development in the ongoing debate over data privacy and corporate responsibility. By changing their tune on data collection and settling the lawsuit, Oracle's trying to bury the hatchet and get with the program on privacy standards. 

Now only time will tell how this will impact Oracle in the long run, but for the time being, it seems like even bad news isn’t enough to keep Larry Ellison’s tech behemoth from rallying. 

(Source: Giphy) 

Stocks.News holds positions in Google and Meta as mentioned in the article.