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On September 10, 2025, Ellison was briefly the wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$393 billion. This remarkable achievement came after Ellison's wealth reportedly jumped by $89 billion to $383.2 billion on Wednesday after Oracle's stunningly strong earnings report Tuesday evening.
The surge was driven by Oracle (ORCL), which reported surging demand for its data centre capacity from AI customers, launching the stock into the stratosphere.
Ellison's wealth has soared by $101 billion today, making it the biggest one-day increase in the index's history.
This astronomical gain briefly positioned him ahead of Elon Musk, though the two titans continue to trade positions at the apex of global wealth.
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Early Life and Education
Larry Ellison's journey to becoming one of the world's wealthiest individuals began with humble origins and an unconventional educational path. Ellison attended the University of Illinois and later the University of Chicago but dropped out before graduating.
While he never earned a formal degree, his exposure to computer programming and mathematics during this time laid the groundwork for a legendary tech career.
Larry Ellison dropped out of college before co-founding what eventually grew into one of the world's biggest technology companies: Oracle Corp. His decision to leave formal education would prove to be the first of many bold moves that would define his entrepreneurial career.
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The Genesis of Oracle
The Oracle story began in the 1970s when Ellison was working as a computer programmer. During the 1970s, after a brief stint at Amdahl Corporation, Ellison began working for Ampex Corporation. His first project included a database for the CIA, code-named "Oracle".
This CIA project would become the foundation for one of the world's most successful technology companies.
Ellison was inspired by a paper written by Edgar F. Codd on relational database systems called "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks". This seminal paper on relational databases provided the theoretical framework that Ellison would transform into a revolutionary commercial product.
It traces back to 1977, when Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates founded Software Development Laboratories in Santa Clara, California. They were contracted by the CIA to build what would become the Oracle database system.
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The company had fewer than 10 employees and revenue of less than $1 million per year, but in 1981, IBM chose Oracle as its database platform, providing the young company with crucial validation and market momentum.
Building the Oracle Empire
Larry Ellison is chairman of Oracle Corporation and chief technology officer. He founded the company in 1977 and served as CEO until September 2014. Under his leadership, Oracle evolved from a small startup into one of the world's largest enterprise software companies.
Ellison started what was to become the software giant Oracle when he was in his early 30s. In the decades following, Ellison grew a multi-billion dollar business – and grew it fast. After eight years, he ranked number 61 on Inc.'s listing of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in America.
Oracle's growth strategy under Ellison was notably aggressive. In the early 2000s, Ellison started Oracle on an aggressive strategy of buying rival software companies. Dozens of acquisitions were made, including multibillion-dollar purchases of PeopleSoft (2005), Siebel (2006), BEA (2008), and Sun Microsystems (2010).
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The acquisition spree continued into the next decade. In 2017, Ellison led Oracle through its largest acquisition to date, paying an estimated $9 billion for the cloud-software provider NetSuite Inc.
In the following years, Ellison moved aggressively to position Oracle at the forefront of the cloud computing sector, luring high-priced talent from industry leader Amazon Web Services.
Current Role and Influence
Today, Ellison, who cofounded Oracle in the '70s and is still its chief technology officer and executive chairman, saw his net worth skyrocket over the past day to $393 billion, jumping ahead of Musk's $385 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index.
He owns around 41% of the business, according to a July 2025 filing. This substantial ownership stake has been the primary driver of his enormous wealth, as Oracle's stock performance directly impacts his net worth.
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Strategic Investments and Diversification
Beyond Oracle, Ellison has made strategic investments that have significantly contributed to his wealth. At the same time, Ellison made one of the most fateful strategic investing choices of his career.
In 2018, he spent approximately $1 billion to buy 15 million shares of Tesla, Inc., the clean energy company best known for its innovative electric automobiles. This investment in Tesla has proven extraordinarily lucrative, benefiting from the electric vehicle company's remarkable stock appreciation.
Personal Ventures and Lifestyle
Ellison's wealth extends beyond technology investments. Ellison is also known for his ownership of 98 per cent of Lānaʻi, the sixth-largest island in the Hawaiian Islands. This acquisition demonstrates his penchant for unique, large-scale investments and his interest in sustainable development projects.
Business Philosophy and Reputation
Originally dominant in the database market, Oracle grew in a variety of other areas, including computer hardware systems, development software, collaboration tools, and middleware. Known for his aggressive business practices, Ellison is viewed by many as a visionary and a reliable ally.
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Ellison was one of Silicon Valley's most prominent and controversial figures, known for his competitive nature and willingness to challenge industry giants like Microsoft and IBM.
The AI Revolution and Oracle's Future
The recent surge in Ellison's wealth reflects Oracle's successful positioning in the artificial intelligence revolution. The company's data centre infrastructure has become increasingly valuable as AI companies require massive computational resources for training and deploying large language models and other AI systems.
Oracle's ability to capitalise on the AI boom demonstrates Ellison's continued relevance and vision in the rapidly evolving technology landscape, nearly five decades after founding the company.