Larry Ellison’s fortune surges with Oracle’s stock rally, surpassing Elon Musk. Artificial intelligence fuels the rise of the new world’s wealthiest man.
Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, became the world’s richest man this Wednesday, overtaking Elon Musk in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The leap was driven by the sharp rise in Oracle’s shares, boosted by growing demand for computing services tied to artificial intelligence.
According to Bloomberg, Ellison’s fortune increased by more than $100 billion in a single day — the largest daily jump ever recorded by the index — reaching $393 billion. Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, fell to second place with $385 billion.
Behind them are Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Betting on Artificial Intelligence
Oracle’s rally is mainly due to soaring demand for its data center capacity from AI companies. CEO Safra Catz revealed, after releasing results, that the company signed four multibillion-dollar contracts in the last quarter and expects to close several more in the coming months.
The tech giant also announced an order backlog exceeding $450 billion, with major clients such as Nvidia and OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. In July, Oracle confirmed a deal to supply OpenAI with 4.5 gigawatts of electricity to sustain its AI operations.
Shares skyrocketed more than 40% in Wednesday’s session alone, pushing Oracle’s market capitalization close to $1 trillion — more than doubling its value since the start of the year, according to CNN.
A Fortune Beyond Technology
Ellison’s empire extends far beyond technology. His son David recently finalized the purchase of Paramount Global, owner of CBS and MTV, in an $8 billion deal partly financed by the family fortune, according to CNBC.
At 81 years old, Larry Ellison still owns 98% of the Hawaiian island of Lana’i, controls the Indian Wells tennis tournament — nicknamed the “fifth Grand Slam” — and maintains political influence in the United States as a known supporter of President Donald Trump.
Ellison recently appeared at the White House alongside Masayoshi Son (SoftBank) and Sam Altman (OpenAI) to announce a $500 billion mega data center project to be developed with Oracle’s technology.
Musk Loses Title After Years at the Top
Elon Musk first became the world’s richest man in 2021. Since then, he only temporarily lost the title to Bernard Arnault (LVMH) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon).
Despite controversies and challenges, Musk still holds a colossal fortune, fueled by his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX. He also has a future compensation package that could be worth close to $1 trillion if Tesla hits certain valuation targets.
Expresso, 09/10/2025
