Larry Ellison’s fortune soared by more than $110 billion on Wednesday after Oracle released bold cloud growth projections that stunned Wall Street. The stock shot up over 40% in a single day, pushing the Oracle co-founder’s net worth to roughly $391 billion — bringing him within striking distance of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who sits at just over $436 billion, according to Forbes.
Ellison, now 81, has stayed deeply involved in Oracle as chairman and chief technology officer. Unlike many of his peers, he has held onto his stake in the company for decades, owning more than 1.1 million shares for over 25 years. The strategy has paid off handsomely. By contrast, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, once Ellison’s protégé, steadily sold down his shares and today is worth about $10 billion.
Oracle’s surge was fueled by projections that its cloud infrastructure revenue could skyrocket from $10 billion last fiscal year to $144 billion by 2030. The company also revealed that its remaining performance obligation — future contracted revenue yet to be recognized — hit $455 billion, a 359% leap from the year prior.
Ellison has expanded his influence well beyond databases. Oracle acquired health records giant Cerner in 2022 for $28 billion, part of Ellison’s growing focus on health care technology. He also launched the Ellison Institute of Technology at Oxford in December, signaling a push into global research and philanthropy.
The billionaire has remained active in dealmaking as well, helping finalize the $8 billion Paramount Global-Skydance merger just last month. And in the tech world, he has emerged as a key supplier of AI infrastructure, forging a significant partnership between Oracle and OpenAI.
Though Ellison stepped down from Tesla’s board in 2022 after nearly four years, his wealth continues to grow alongside the rise of artificial intelligence and cloud computing. With Oracle’s trajectory, the gap between him and Musk is narrowing — setting up a potential shake-up in the global billionaire rankings.