Topline
Oracle’s stock price plummeted over 4% on Thursday, erasing billions in value after Bloomberg first reported the company sent a “force majeure” notice to the developer of a massive data center in New Mexico, a legal move to attempt to shield itself from having to make payments should the project fail.
The company is supposed to be the primary tenant for a massive data center in New Mexico currently under construction.
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Key Facts
Oracle sent a force majeure notice to Blue Owl Capital, the company that owns the primary developer of the massive data center in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, dubbed “Project Jupiter,” sources first told Bloomberg.
The tech company is not trying to leave as the primary tenant of the site, but could attempt to delay payments should the project get delayed before 2028, the sources said—although it is unclear if this tactic would work.
Oracle’s stock price plummeted over 6% after markets opened on Thursday following the news, and the price was still down 4.4% around 12:30 p.m. EDT.
Force majeure is usually used when companies face extreme circumstances beyond their control like an earthquake, storm or other natural disaster.
What Have The Companies Said?
In a statement sent to Forbes, Oracle vice president Michael Egbert said the project “remains on our planned schedule” and he was “confident” in moving forward with the New Mexico project. “Force-majeure notices are commonplace in developments of this scale and are often used to preserve contractual rights among project partners. They do not, by themselves, establish a project delay or change delivery expectations,” he said. In a statement sent to Bloomberg, Blue Owl said the two companies were still “fully aligned” and the notice “does not change the financial commitments to this multiyear project.”
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison’s net worth at $182.1 billion, making him the eighth-wealthiest person in the world as of Thursday. Ellison owns roughly 40% of Oracle, and the company’s stock dip on Thursday erased roughly $7.2 billion in value from his fortune.
Key Background
The massive Project Jupiter site in Doña Ana County is a so-called “hyperscale” data center and part of the $500 billion Stargate Project launched by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank last year. The massive project was announced alongside President Donald Trump in the Oval Office in 2025, in a bid to build out the infrastructure needed by artificial intelligence companies. Oracle says the project will bring up to $4.7 billion in economic benefits to the state. A fact sheet published by Doña Ana County says the project has a minimum initial investment of $50 billion, with a potential for $165 billion in investment over the next 30 years. Oracle previously secured $18 billion in loans from multiple banks for the project, Bloomberg reported last year. However, the broader data center buildout has faced considerable backlash from communities in recent months, and the New Mexico facility already survived legal challenges that reached the state’s Supreme Court. Recent polling has found a majority of voters from both parties oppose further data center construction.
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