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 historic surge in Oracle’s stock price dramatically boosted his fortune.
According to Forbes’ real-time billionaire rankings, Ellison’s net worth jumped by $101 billion to $395.7 billion following a 41 percent rally in Oracle shares on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday — the company’s steepest one-day rise since 1992. Musk, meanwhile, saw his wealth decline as Tesla shares slid 14 percent this year.
Oracle’s stock surge was fueled by an aggressive growth outlook for its cloud business, which has been buoyed by soaring demand for artificial intelligence computing. The rally pushed the company’s market valuation to $947 billion.
Ellison, 80, still serves as Oracle’s chairman and CTO. He founded the software giant in 1977 and led it as CEO until 2014. Much of his wealth remains tied to Oracle, whose shares had already risen 45 percent in 2025 before this week’s rally.
The company is forecasting overall revenue growth of 12–14 percent and cloud revenue growth of 32–36 percent for the second quarter. Oracle has also emerged as a key player in the U.S. government’s artificial intelligence strategy under President Donald Trump’s Project Stargate, alongside OpenAI and SoftBank.
Ellison has been outspoken about his vision for AI, at times suggesting that the technology will usher in a new era of monitoring and behavioral regulation through constant recording and reporting.
For 300 days, Musk had held the title of the world’s richest person. He first reached the top spot in 2021, briefly losing it to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and LVMH chief Bernard Arnault before reclaiming it. This week, however, Ellison’s wealth surge propelled him to the No. 1 position. (Source: IANS)
