New Delhi: Oracle Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison has become the world’s richest person, surpassing Tesla CEO Elon Musk, after a sharp surge in his company’s share price boosted his wealth.
According to Forbes’ real-time billionaire rankings, Ellison’s fortune jumped by $101 billion to reach $395.7 billion as Oracle shares rallied 41 per cent on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange, the biggest single-day rise since 1992. Musk’s net worth, meanwhile, dropped after Tesla shares fell 14 per cent this year.
Oracle’s stock surge came after the company projected strong growth for its cloud business, positioning itself to meet the rising demand for artificial intelligence computing. The rally pushed Oracle’s market capitalization to $947 billion.
Musk had held the top spot in the global wealth list for 300 days. He first became the world’s richest person in 2021 and has since traded places with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and LVMH chief Bernard Arnault.
Ellison, 80, continues to serve as Oracle’s Chairman and CTO, roles he has held since stepping down as CEO in 2014. His fortune is largely tied to Oracle, which had already gained 45 per cent this year before Wednesday’s historic rise.
The company has forecast overall revenue growth of 12–14 per cent and cloud revenue growth of 32–36 per cent in the second quarter. It has also become a key player in the US government’s AI drive under President Donald Trump’s Project Stargate, working alongside OpenAI and SoftBank.
Ellison has been outspoken about Oracle’s AI ambitions, predicting that artificial intelligence will usher in a new era of monitoring, where technology will improve public behavior through continuous recording and reporting.