Topline
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison enjoyed a cool 11-figure jump in his net worth Wednesday as shares of his company skyrocketed, closing the gap between Ellison, the world’s fifth-richest person, and the fourth-richest person, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Larry Ellison, pictured in 2019, became a much wealthier man Wednesday.
Key Facts
Ellison’s net worth, which is largely comprised of his roughly 40% equity stake in Oracle, rose more than $15 billion to $169 billion Wednesday morning, the largest gain of any billionaire, according to Forbes’ real-time tracker.
The 79-year-old Ellison is now about $10 billion less rich than Zuckerberg and $50 billion behind Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and Ellison’s “very close friend.”
The gain came as Oracle’s stock rose more than 10% to an all-time high of $140 per share, rallying after its Tuesday afternoon earnings report.
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Surprising Fact
Though cloud computing giant Oracle actually reported lower revenue and profits than Wall Street expected, the company’s stock rallied as it shared better revenue guidance for its upcoming fiscal year than forecasted and showed off artificial intelligence deals with the likes of ChatGPT parent OpenAI. “AI demand was the star of the show,” explained Deutsche Bank analysts led by Brad Zelnick.
Key Background
One of the most colorful Silicon Valley figures, Ellison has been in the news recently for his financial backing of Sen. Tim Scott (R, S.C.) in the GOP primary and reportedly as a potential vice presidential pick, and for his son’s reportedly doomed planned acquisition of CBS parent Paramount. Oracle is one of the many winners of the AI arms race, with the likes of Apple and Microsoft stocks also trading at all-time highs Wednesday. Ellison was briefly the third-richest man in the world after Oracle’s June 2023 earnings report, but he was eclipsed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Zuckerberg as shares of their companies outperformed Oracle’s.
