Oracle's AI Boom Propels Larry Ellison to Second-Richest Person Globally

Ellison Overtakes Zuckerberg as World's Second-Richest Person

Larry Ellison is the world's second-wealthiest person for the first time ever, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as a red-hot rally in Oracle Corp.'s share price has catapulted his net worth to $251.2 billion. Oracle has been a key winner as investors have piled into artificial-intelligence stocks. The company's shares have nearly tripled since ChatGPT was released to the public in November 2022, but it's been on a particular tear over the past three months, with the stock gaining more than 90% since late April as the computing provider recorded surging revenues and inked key partnerships.

Larry Ellison surpasses Mark Zuckerberg to become world's second-richest after Oracle doubles down on AI investment

Larry Ellison has surpassed Mark Zuckerberg's net worth, making him the second-richest person on the planet at the age of 80. Ellison's net worth now sits at $251 billion, having gained nearly $60 billion in 2025 alone, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The founder's wealth comes courtesy of his 40% stake in database company Oracle, which he launched in 1977 and is up 41% for the year to date, with a huge rally over the past fortnight. Like Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang, Ellison wealth has ballooned as policy continues to favor artificial intelligence stocks. Amid volatility in the market under Trump 2.0, AI stocks have already scored some wins -- most recently, with Huang confirming that the government had permitted his company to start shipping advanced chips to China. But Ellison was also one of the tech titans who stood by the president's side when the White House announced Stargate, a project aimed at catapulting the U.S. ahead of any competition in the AI space. Oracle, along with SoftBank, OpenAI, and MGX, are initial equity founders in the organization which will invest $500 billion into AI infrastructure over the next four years. Oracle and OpenAI are further involved in the project as key technology partners alongside Arm, Microsoft, and Nvidia. But Oracle's rally over recent weeks came under its own steam, announcing blockbuster end-of-year results and then doubling down on AI investments. In its fiscal full year results shared in May, Oracle revealed Q4 revenues of $15.9 billion, up 11%, with remaining performance obligations up 41% to $138 billion. Yesterday, the company further doubled down on its commitment to AI infrastructure, accelerating the industry's growth globally by announcing a $3 billion investment in Germany and the Netherlands to boost cloud services and AI. However, although investors are flocking to Oracle, analysts remain hedged about how high the company can fly. In a June note published following Oracle's financial results, Goldman Sachs's analysts maintained a 'neutral' rating. They explained: "While we are encouraged by the clear OCI [Oracle Cloud Infrastructure] demand momentum, we continue to see risk that Oracle may over-index investments to the low-margin and capital-intensive training cycle, which may weigh on FCF generation for the foreseeable future." As bulls continue to back AI as the major driver behind extended PE ratios, Huang has similarly seen his net worth fly to the point of leapfrogging Berkshire Hathaway CEO, Warren Buffett. At the time of writing, the Nvidia founder's net worth sits at $149 billion -- up more than $34 billion for year -- while Buffett sits at $141 billion. Ellison also announced his intention this week to amend his commitment to the Giving Pledge, a promise made by some of the world's wealthiest people to donate the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. Ellison publicly signed the pledge -- launched by Bill Gates, his ex-wife Melinda French Gates, and Buffett -- in 2010 promising to give away some 95% of his wealth. In an update this week, Ellison confirmed his commitment to dispensing his resources for humane work and revealed the launch of the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) at the University of Oxford. Posting on X, Ellison wrote he believes giving to nonprofit organizations to pursue public good remains important, but added: "There are additional ways that I would like to invest my time and resources in giving back to the world we share." He explained: "EIT's humane endeavors include transforming healthcare by designing and distributing a new generation of life-saving drugs, combating world hunger by engineering higher yielding crops and building a global network of low-cost indoor growing systems, and slowing climate change by developing efficient clean energy generation and storage systems. "So, I am amending my giving pledge and promising to do more -- by concentrating my resources on the Institute. I believe this will improve our chances of delivering practical solutions to the problems of hunger, healthcare and climate change."

This 80-Year-Old Tech Billionaire Just Overtook Mark Zuckerberg as the Second-Richest Person in the World

Ellison's net worth has grown as Oracle's stock price has doubled over the past two years due to the AI boom. Larry Ellison, the 80-year-old founder and chief technology officer of software giant Oracle, is now the world's second-wealthiest person. For the first time, Ellison has overtaken Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, 41, on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to claim the No. 2 spot. According to a Bloomberg report from late Tuesday, Ellison's net worth is now $251.2 billion, higher than Zuckerberg's $251 billion but less than Elon Musk's $358 billion. Since ChatGPT's release in late 2022, Oracle has experienced significant growth among enterprise customers, who are eager to tap into the company's cloud services for AI computing. As Oracle's largest shareholder, with a stake of about 40% in the software company that comprises more than 80% of his wealth, Ellison has seen his fortune grow as Oracle's stock has skyrocketed due to the AI boom. According to The Wall Street Journal, Oracle's stock price has doubled over the past two years, pushing the company's market value to around $650 billion. Related: Nvidia Pulls Ahead of Apple and Microsoft to Become the World's First $4 Trillion Public Company A lot of that growth has been concentrated in recent gains. Oracle's shares have gained more than 90% since late April alone, per Bloomberg. Ellison, who founded Oracle in 1977 and served as CEO until 2014, has seen that growth reflected in his net worth. Oracle's most recent earnings report, released last month, tells the story of a growing giant. The company's quarterly revenues were up 11% year-over-year to reach $15.9 billion, driven by a 14% increase in cloud services revenue. Oracle CEO Safra Catz predicted in the report that revenue growth rates would be "dramatically higher" in the year ahead as the company experiences growth in its cloud business. Related: Amazon Cloud CEO Predicts a Future Where Most Software Engineers Don't Code -- and AI Does It Instead Oracle is competing against other cloud providers like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud, which also offer cloud storage and computing services for businesses. According to Synergy Research Group, Oracle captured 3% of the global cloud infrastructure market in the first quarter of the year, compared to the 63% captured collectively by Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. It was the fifth-largest cloud provider by market share. Oracle has recently announced a number of AI deals. Earlier this week, the company said it would invest $3 billion to expand its AI and cloud infrastructure in Germany and the Netherlands. Last month, Oracle inked a $30 billion annual cloud deal with OpenAI to provide the ChatGPT-maker with cloud computing power to support a growing number of AI users. Oracle is now the 16th most valuable company in the world by market capitalization.

Larry Ellison Surges Past Mark Zuckerberg To Become World's Second-Richest Person As Oracle's AI Deals With OpenAI, US Government Drive Massive Stock Surge - Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Larry Ellison, Oracle Corp.'s ORCL co-founder and chairman, has once again overtaken Meta Platforms, Inc. META CEO Mark Zuckerberg to become the world's second-richest person. This is despite them both having $251 billion net worth. What Happened: According to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index, Ellison and Zuckerberg are tied at $251 billion, but because Ellison has gained $59 billion this year while the Meta CEO is up $43.4 billion, the Oracle co-founder might have placed above. This ranks him just after Tesla Inc. TSLA and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who remains the world's richest person at $358 billion. Others in the top five wealthiest individuals list are Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN founder Jeff Bezos and former Microsoft Corporation MSFT CEO Steve Ballmer, with net worths of $247 billion and $174 billion, respectively. See Also: Nvidia Says 'Washington Gets It' After Trump's AI Czar David Sacks Says US Has To 'Outcompete' Global Rivals Why It's Important: Ellison's wealth, more than 80% of which is tied to Oracle stock and options, soared as Oracle shares climbed 47.27% in the last six months, reported Bloomberg. The rally followed news on Tuesday that the U.S. government would ease export restrictions, allowing chipmakers like Nvidia Corp. NVDA and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD to resume selling some semiconductors to China. Trending Investment OpportunitiesAdvertisementArrivedBuy shares of homes and vacation rentals for as little as $100. Get StartedWiserAdvisorGet matched with a trusted, local financial advisor for free.Get StartedPoint.comTap into your home's equity to consolidate debt or fund a renovation.Get StartedRobinhoodMove your 401k to Robinhood and get a 3% match on deposits.Get Started Oracle, which relies on high-end chips for its cloud and AI infrastructure, was among the top beneficiaries of the policy shift with a gain of 2.48% during Tuesday's regular trading session, according to Benzinga Pro. The company has also inked multibillion-dollar cloud deals and ramped up partnerships with firms including OpenAI and SoftBank Group SFTBF SFTBY as part of its Stargate initiative. Oracle's stock has also nearly tripled since OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022, the report said. According to Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings, Oracle is demonstrating strong positive momentum in the short, medium and long term. Additional performance insights are available here. Photo courtesy: drserg / Shutterstock.com Read More: Get Ready For 800 Hours Of Blackouts, Trump's DOE Warns AMDAdvanced Micro Devices Inc$155.236.15%Stock Score Locked: Edge Members Only Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Unlock RankingsEdge RankingsMomentum47.93Growth96.98Quality81.21Value12.88Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewAMZNAmazon.com Inc$225.850.07%METAMeta Platforms Inc$710.89-1.39%MSFTMicrosoft Corp$503.720.14%NVDANVIDIA Corp$170.203.74%ORCLOracle Corp$234.902.45%SFTBFSoftBank Group Corp$68.30-4.77%SFTBYSoftBank Group Corp$35.000.55%TSLATesla Inc$308.90-2.52%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs