Elon Musk has lost his title of “world’s richest person” title to Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison.
Ellison’s wealth jumped by $101 billion to $393 billion after Oracle’s stunningly strong earnings report Tuesday evening, surpassing Musk’s net worth of $385 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Oracle (ORCL) reported surging demand for its data center capacity from AI customers, launching the stock into the stratosphere. Shares are 40% higher Wednesday as of 11 a.m. ET.
CEO Safra Catz announced Tuesday after the stock market closed that Oracle signed four multibillion-dollar contracts with customers during the quarter, and she expects to sign several more in the coming months.
That electric forecast was powered by Oracle’s emergence as a key provider of infrastructure that powers AI companies’ enormous demands for computing power – Oracle’s bread and butter as a cloud services and database software provider. In July, Oracle announced a deal to provide ChatGPT’s parent company OpenAI with 4.5 gigawatts of electricity to power its AI software.
Ellison is Oracle’s largest individual shareholder and could capture the title of world’s richest person if the stock extends its extraordinary gains when the markets open Wednesday. The stock’s jump is exceedingly rare for a company that has a massive market value of just under $700 billion – the 13th most-valuable stock on the market at Tuesday’s close.
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Bloomberg notes Ellison’s leap in wealth is the “biggest one-day increase ever recorded” recorded by the index. The Bloomberg Billionaire Index will update following the market close on Wednesday.
As Oracle has become a powerhouse in AI technology, it has ridden the recent tech boom that has propelled Nvidia to become the world’s most valuable company, with a valuation north of $4 trillion. Microsoft briefly joined Nvidia above the $4 trillion mark. The eight most-valuable stocks in the S&P 500 are all tech stocks with some stake in building the AI-powered future.
As the AI boom accelerates, Oracle’s stock has risen 103% this year.
Musk first captured the title in 2021 and has largely held on to it for the past few years thanks in part to his various investments in Tesla and SpaceX. Over the years, Musk has briefly lost it twice, first in 2021 to LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault and in 2024 to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Nevertheless, Musk has prevailed despite his various trials and tribulations. He was even give a new pay package that could be worth close to $1 trillion once Tesla hits certain milestones.
For Ellison, his road to becoming the world’s richest person traces back to 1977, when he dropped out of college and helped establish Oracle.
The 81-year-old multibillionaire owns 98% of the Hawaiian island of Lana’i and is credited for reviving the Indian Wells tennis tournament in California, earning it the “fifth slam” nickname.
Ellison has close ties with President Donald Trump, often appearing with him at the White House for various technology events and rewarding Oracle contracts. He’s also seen has a possible suitor for TikTok, although those plans have not come to fruition.
