Oracle's AI Boom Catapults Larry Ellison Towards World's Richest Title

Trump ally on cusp of overtaking Musk as world's richest man

The technology mogul and Donald Trump ally Larry Ellison is closing in on Elon Musk's status as the world's richest man after his fortune jumped by $81bn (£60bn) overnight. Shares in Oracle, Mr Ellison's IT giant, rose by almost 30pc after an explosion in new business linked to the AI boom. Mr Ellison, 81, founded Oracle in 1977 and owns 41pc of the company. The stake is worth $358bn, while Mr Ellison is also believed to own shares in Tesla worth around $17bn. The two stakes combined are worth $375bn. This would put him within touching distance of Mr Musk, who is worth $384bn, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index. Mr Ellison has supported Mr Trump for years and has repeatedly appeared at White House events during the US president's second term. He has also donated hundreds of millions to Sir Tony Blair's Institute for Global Change, and put more than $1bn into an Oxford science and technology hub. Oracle's increasing influence Oracle, best known for database management software, has become a major player in cloud computing, in which companies construct vast data centres and rent out high-powered IT capacity to companies. On Tuesday, it said that its "remaining performance obligations" - deals it had signed that would lead to future sales - had reached $455bn, up from $138bn three months earlier. Safra Catz, the company's chief executive, said Oracle had signed deals with "the who's who of AI, including OpenAI, xAI, Meta, Nvidia, [Advanced Micro Devices] AMD and many others". Oracle is involved in a $500bn "Stargate" project in the US with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, and the Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank. In March, the company said it planned to invest $5bn in Britain. Mr Ellison opened his California estate for a Trump fundraiser in 2020 and was frequently at Mar-a-Lago as Mr Trump prepared his return to the White House. Oracle is part of a consortium that has put together a bid to buy TikTok's US operations from ByteDance, its Beijing-headquartered parent company. A forced sale has been repeatedly delayed by the Trump administration. Mr Musk's net worth is largely made up of his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX. Tesla shares have fallen so far this year as the company suffers declining sales and growing competition. Last week, Tesla unveiled a compensation package for Mr Musk that would see him become the world's first trillionaire. He would be awarded shares worth $1tn for hitting a series of goals, including selling one million robots and Tesla reaching a market value of $8.5tn.

After firing thousands, Oracle's Larry Ellison could overtake Musk as the richest person today as stock skyrockets

Larry Ellison net worth 2025: Larry Ellison, the co-founder and largest shareholder of Oracle Corporation, is on the verge of overtaking Tesla CEO Elon Musk as the world's richest person today after Oracle's stock surged in premarket trading on Wednesday. The software giant's stock rose more than 32% in premarket trading after the firm revealed its ambitious forecast that its AI-driven cloud revenue could reach $144 billion by fiscal year 2030, a huge jump from its current fiscal year projection of less than $20 billion, as per a report. Axios reported that Ellison owns about 1.16 billion shares of Oracle, which means if the stock gain continues in regular trading, his holdings' value would rise about $87.8 billion in one day. ALSO READ: Apple iPhone 17 & iPhone Air Accessories: Clear and silicone cases in multiple colors, crossbody strap, MagSafe battery and more! This massive rise in Oracle's stock comes amid a period of significant upheaval at the company, which recently laid off thousands of employees and reportedly considered cutting cash raises and bonuses, as per a Yahoo Finance report. Even after these tough internal decisions, Ellison's fortune soared by roughly $70 billion after the company's latest earnings report, bringing his net worth to about $364 billion, just behind Musk's $384 billion, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The 81 year old, who serves as Oracle's chairman and chief technology officer, has most of his wealth tied to the company's stock, as per Bloomberg. ALSO READ: Apple unveils iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max: Features, pre-order dates, colors and specs His increasing fortune reflects the market's bullish response to Oracle's aggressive investment in AI infrastructure and cloud services. The company signed major multibillion-dollar contracts with leading AI innovators, including OpenAI, Meta, and others, securing a massive source of future revenue, according to Yahoo Finance. Oracle CEO Safra Catz said, "We expect Oracle Cloud Infrastructure revenue to grow 77% to $18 billion this fiscal year -- and then increase to $32 billion, $73 billion, $114 billion, and $144 billion over the subsequent four years," as quoted by Yahoo Finance. ALSO READ: What happens to your uploaded photos on AI chatbots? Are they really private? While Oracle's most recent quarterly earnings slightly missed Wall Street expectations, the company's long-term vision and contract backlog of $455 billion have investors optimistic, according to the report. The tech giant is making huge capital expenditures, planning to spend $35 billion in 2026 to expand its data centers infrastructure, as per Yahoo Finance. Ellison said, "We expect MultiCloud revenue to grow substantially every quarter for several years as we deliver another 37 datacenters to our three hyperscaler partners, for a total of 71," as quoted by Reuters. ALSO READ: AI Chatbots' hidden cost: How your questions harm the planet through carbon emissions Why is Oracle's stock jumping so much? Oracle announced its AI cloud revenue could hit $144 billion by 2030, far exceeding current expectations, which excited investors. How much wealth will Larry Ellison gain from the stock surge? Ellison could gain nearly $88 billion in value from his Oracle shares if the price holds during the day.