• CaptSneeze@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    4 months ago

    Larry Ellison likes controlling Oracle and being a billionaire. Rather than selling stock of Oracle to fund his lifestyle, he instead borrows against the value of the stock. As Oracle appreciated, he got to keep the gains he doesn’t trigger capital gains taxes.

    I never really understood this. He still has to pay the loan, and he isn’t doing that with his symbolic $1/year salary. What part am I missing?

    • untorquer@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      4 months ago

      Debt interest below investment yield means infinite money.

      You’re missing the taxes they aren’t paying on the yield of the investment. That’s only taxed when sold. So if you borrow against investments tied up in the market then it never triggers the tax.

      Theoretically their estate would get taxed on the value resulting in a nice cascade of tax triggers but they’re doing away with that asap.

    • 5too@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      4 months ago

      As I understand it, one way is to just borrow again against similar stock. He borrows against stock bundle A for a while, and when that loan comes due, repays with a fresh loan against stock bundle B. A and B can be the same amount of stock, but as long as the line goes up, the loan against B more than repays the loan against stock A.

      There’s intricacies and details in the process, but that’s how I understand the basic process goes.