Hall of Shame

Larry Ellison Called Cloud Computing "Complete Gibberish." It Now Makes Oracle $30 Billion a Year.

Posted February 20, 2026

"The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than womens fashion. Maybe Im an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it? Its complete gibberish. Its insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?"

— Larry Ellison, Oracle Co-Founder and CEO

September 2008

What Actually Happened

Speaking at Oracle OpenWorld in 2008, the tech billionaire went full boomer on the hottest buzzword in Silicon Valley. Cloud computing? Just marketing fluff for stuff we already do. Fashion-driven nonsense. Complete gibberish. The rant went viral among tech circles as a masterclass in missing the point.

Fast forward to 2026: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is growing 60%+ annually. Cloud revenue hit $8 billion in a single quarter—now accounting for HALF of Oracles total revenue. The company is spending $15+ billion on AI-focused cloud data centers. And Larry Ellison? Hes now personally pitching Oracle Cloud to Elon Musk for xAI training.

The man who asked "when is this idiocy going to stop?" is now betting his companys entire future on it. The idiocy, it turns out, was worth about $30 billion a year.

Larry Ellison Called Cloud Computing "Complete Gibberish." It Now Makes Oracle $30 Billion a Year.

What Actually Happened

Comments (0)