Oracle has announced the closure of its advertising business, ending its ambitious efforts in the online advertising market.
The decision, which was revealed during the company’s most recent fourth-quarter earnings call, follows a steady decline in revenue, which fell to $300 million for fiscal 2024, according to Oracle CEO Safra Catz.
While it may seem high, that million-dollar figure is lower than the much higher $2 billion in 2022, a year in which the company decided to implement large-scale layoffs to optimize the efficiency of its operations.
Oracle dissatisfied with advertising revenue
Oracle’s efforts in the advertising sector span several years: in 2014 it acquired DataLogix for $1.2 billion, before acquiring Moat later in 2017 for $850 million.
Then came the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, which put an end to some third-party data access. While Meta was at the center of the discussions, Oracle’s cloud business was also affected due to its reduced ability to collect user data. Europe’s GDPR and other similar laws around the world also limited advertisers’ ability to access lucrative data.
“In the fourth quarter, we decided to exit the advertising business, which had declined to approximately $300 million in revenue in fiscal ’24,” Catz added.
Moreover, the company reported a modest annualized quarterly turnover of 3% and a 6% increase in annual turnover, which now stands at $53 billion.
It appears that Oracle is now betting on AI, a growing sector that is pushing global cloud revenues above $300 billion annually. numerical turnover growth this financial year.”
The company has also committed to its second headquarters move in four years, confirming plans to move to Nashville, Tennessee to bring it closer to the healthcare industry, which is undergoing a digital and AI revolution.