US tech billionaire Larry Ellison briefly surpassed Elon Musk to become the world’s richest person on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg’s billionaires index. Ellison’s fortune, driven largely by his substantial stake in Oracle, momentarily edged ahead of Musk’s after the business software company reported stronger-than-expected financial results that sent its share price soaring.
Ellison owns about 41% of Oracle, and the company’s shares rose more than 40% in early trading, at one point valuing it at roughly $960 billion (£707 billion). This surge pushed the value of Ellison’s stake to an estimated $393 billion, surpassing Musk’s fortune of $384 billion. However, the lead was short-lived as Oracle stock closed up 36% at $328, valuing Ellison’s holdings at about $378 billion and placing Musk back in front. Despite this, both figures remain far ahead of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos in the global wealth rankings.
At 81, Ellison’s wealth extends beyond Oracle. He holds a stake in electric vehicle maker Tesla, where Musk serves as chief executive, as well as assets including a sailing team, the Indian Wells Open tennis tournament, and the Hawaiian island of Lanai. Ellison and Musk have maintained a close personal and professional relationship for years. Ellison sat on Tesla’s board between 2018 and 2022 and contributed $1 billion to Musk’s purchase of Twitter, since rebranded as X. According to Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk, when the Tesla CEO approached Ellison to invest in Twitter, Ellison responded that he would commit $1 billion or “whatever you recommend.” Musk is also known to be a frequent visitor to Ellison’s Hawaiian island.
Ellison’s political and business ties further underline his influence. He is a supporter of Donald Trump and has appeared with him at White House events, including the launch of the Stargate project to invest $500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US. Musk, who backed Trump’s 2024 election campaign, also maintained a strong relationship with him before their ties broke earlier this year. Oracle’s value has been buoyed by the rising demand from AI companies for its cloud services, which power large-scale data processing for firms such as ChatGPT developer OpenAI.
Musk, whose fortune stems from his leadership of Tesla and ownership of SpaceX, first became the world’s richest person in 2021 before ceding the title to Jeff Bezos and later Bernard Arnault. He regained it last year but now faces a close challenge from Ellison less than a year later. The brief shift in rankings highlights how much the value of major technology companies influences the wealth of their founders, particularly as demand for AI-driven infrastructure and services accelerates globally.
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