After we talk of of us that have dominated the world, we now have names love Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Designate Zuckerberg.
While Larry Ellison may no longer be the first tech billionaire that comes to thoughts, yet, as of July 2025, the Oracle co-founder has quietly risen to change into the second-richest particular person on Earth, with an estimated fortune exceeding $251 billion.
Surpassing Zuckerberg and briefly nudging ahead of Bezos, Ellison’s ascent is no fluke, it’s a story constructed on shrewd bets, lengthy-length of time pondering, and the increasing dominance of AI infrastructure.
From college dropout to tech billionaire
Born in 1944 to a single mother and raised by relatives in Chicago, Larry Ellison’s early lifestyles used to be the leisure but glamorous. He dropped out of faculty twice and moved to California seeking something bigger. That “something” turned out to be instrument.
After engaged on a CIA mission codenamed “Oracle,” Ellison and two colleagues launched their have company in 1977.
That company, Oracle Company would scoot on to change into one among the most highly effective enterprise instrument companies in the world. What location Oracle apart in its early years used to be its embrace of relational databases at a time when the understanding used to be restful lowering-edge.
Businesses and authorities agencies distinguished to manage knowledge, and Oracle used to be correct there to meet the demand.
Oracle’s rise and Ellison’s mountainous stake
Below Ellison’s management, Oracle expanded aggressively. He used to be never afraid to grab risks whether shopping rival companies or entering contemporary markets. The 2010 acquisition of Solar Microsystems, shall we embrace, brought Oracle motivate an eye on over Java and MySQL, two of the world’s most widely historical programming applied sciences.
This present day, despite the fact that Ellison stepped down as CEO in 2014, he restful serves as Oracle’s chief expertise officer and board chairman. Extra importantly, he owns about 40% of the company, a stake that’s the main engine at the attend of his wealth.
How is Ellison is using the AI wave
The most explosive chapter in Ellison’s monetary myth came in the previous few years. Oracle, lengthy considered as a legacy tech company, has staged a first-rate comeback by pivoting to cloud computing and turning into a key player in the AI infrastructure enlighten.
Following the rise of tools love ChatGPT in unhurried 2022, demand for AI knowledge storage, processing energy, and cloud capability skyrocketed. Oracle used to be spirited. It struck main cloud gives together with one with OpenAI and another with Elon Musk’s xAI initiative.
Backed by heavy funding and strategic alliances, Oracle’s stock designate has tripled since unhurried 2022 and jumped over 90% in the closing three months by myself.
In fully at some point in June 2025, Ellison reportedly added $26 billion to his acquire value following a stellar earnings characterize from Oracle. This surge in valuation is what catapulted him previous Zuckerberg and practically about overtook Bezos.
He is no longer unbiased into instrument
Beyond Oracle, Ellison has constructed a standard of living and funding portfolio as extravagant as his acquire value. He owns Hawaii’s sixth-most attention-grabbing island Lanai alongside with sprawling estates, high-finish yachts, and a ardour for competitive crusing.
He essentially based Oracle Crew USA, which received the prestigious The United States’s Cup in 2010. He’s furthermore a first-rate shareholder in Tesla, has held stakes in X (formerly Twitter), and has historical his wealth to persuade each and every Silicon Valley and U.S. politics.
He is one among the most attention-grabbing philanthropist
Despite his reputation as a competitive businessman, Ellison has extra and extra turned in direction of philanthropy, critically in recent years. He joined the Giving Pledge in 2010, promising to donate no longer lower than 95% of his wealth.
Extra no longer too lengthy in the past, he launched the Ellison Institute of Technology, a philanthropic organization centered on breakthroughs in smartly being, vitality, meals security, and AI.
This shows a shift from venerable charity to innovation-led giving, an methodology in accordance with Ellison’s lifelong belief in disruptive pondering and lengthy-length of time bets.
