Neal Freiman

Why do you think my life is so chaotic?

Sure.

Well, with startups, it's more like more money, more security.

Big enterprise deals usually come with even bigger security and compliance requirements.

They automate your compliance and continuously monitor your programs so future deals never get blocked.

Plus, Vanta scales with your company so you'll always have the support you need no matter what growth phase you're in.

My dog of the week is Oracle, which is setting off more red flags than a guy who follows a bunch of Instagram models.

Shares of the tech giant fell 8% this week, extending a months-long slump that has investors seriously worried about the company's balance sheet and the health of the AI sector more broadly.

Oracle's recent troubles began last week when it revealed it would be spending a lot more than analysts expected on building out data centers.

Not a good look for a company that has over $100 billion and growing in debt.

Then another whopper came this Tuesday when the Financial Times reported that Blue Owl Capital, which is the primary backer of Oracle's AI binge, was backing out of a planned $10 billion data center in Michigan.

Oracle denied the report, but the damage was done

Since reaching a peak in September, minting its co-founder Larry Ellison, the richest person in the world, Oracle's stock has lost half of its value.

Now, this is spooky stuff.

A growing number of Wall Street experts see Oracle's shakiness as a canary in the coal mine for the AI trade overall.

It's taking on high amounts of debt to build AI infrastructure, but has little to show for return on those investments.

The worry is that Oracle's problems will become everyone's problem, given that AI has been the primary engine of economic growth and the stock market this year.

Toby, it ain't looking great.

Yeah.

Oracle has $248 billion worth of commitments to data center leases, and it's using a high amount of debt to actually finance that entire infrastructure, all those data centers.