Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison briefly claimed the title of the world’s richest person after a massive surge in his company’s stock value. On Wednesday, shares of Oracle soared by as much as 43%, boosting Ellison’s fortune by nearly $90 billion in a single day. His net worth reached $383 billion, placing him just a step behind Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who currently sits at $384 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
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Ellison’s Wealth Surge
Ellison’s fortune skyrocketed after Oracle announced an unprecedented financial outlook driven by demand in artificial intelligence and cloud services. By the close of trading, his net worth had risen by $90 billion to a total of $383 billion. This placed him ahead of Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, leaving only Musk slightly ahead. The remarkable leap highlighted both Oracle’s expanding business and Ellison’s growing influence.
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AI Demand Driving Growth
Oracle revealed that its sudden market climb came largely from a staggering $450 billion-plus backlog in cloud services. The company also secured multibillion-dollar contracts with major AI players, including Nvidia and OpenAI, the backer of ChatGPT. In a statement, Oracle confirmed, “Over the next few months, we expect to sign-up several additional multi-billion-dollar customers.” The company added it anticipates the backlog soon “exceed half-a-trillion dollars.”
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Family’s Expanding Empire
The Ellison family’s influence extends far beyond Oracle’s business. Recently, Ellison’s son, David, completed an $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS and MTV. According to CNBC, $6 billion of that deal came directly from the Ellison family fortune. This expansion underscores how the Ellisons are using their growing wealth to secure dominance in media as well as technology.
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Political and Tech Alliances
Larry Ellison is also making waves in politics and global technology projects. A close supporter of President Donald Trump, Ellison recently joined Trump at the White House to unveil a major datacenter initiative. The $500 billion project, developed in partnership with Softbank chief Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, will use Oracle’s technology to build a massive global network of datacenters.
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Oracle Nears Trillion Value
The stock surge not only lifted Ellison’s personal fortune but also brought Oracle itself to the brink of a historic milestone. During Wednesday’s trading session, the company’s market capitalization closed in on $1 trillion. With AI at the center of its growth strategy, Oracle is now positioning itself as a dominant force in the next wave of technological transformation.
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Ellison’s Four-Decade Journey
At 81 years old, Larry Ellison has seen Oracle grow from a small software venture into a global technology giant. More than 40 years since its founding, Oracle’s rapid climb into AI, cloud services, and now global datacenter projects has renewed its relevance in Silicon Valley. Ellison’s rise to briefly overtake Musk highlights how deeply intertwined AI demand has become with the fortunes of the world’s wealthiest figures.