Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison has overtaken Elon Musk to become the world’s richest person, after a stunning $101 billion surge in his fortune pushed his net worth to $393 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. Musk now trails at $385 billion.
The reshuffle at the top of the global rich list came after Oracle’s earnings announcement on Tuesday evening, which revealed soaring demand for its cloud infrastructure services. Oracle’s stock jumped 41% on Wednesday, marking the company’s biggest single-day gain since 1992.
Oracle’s CEO, Safra Catz, said the company had signed four multibillion-dollar contracts during the quarter and expects to finalize more high-value deals in the coming months.
“We’ll be talking about this one for a long time,” said Ben Reitzes, analyst at Melius Research, calling Oracle’s $455 billion backlog in AI-related services “staggering”.
With its aggressive push into AI infrastructure, Oracle has joined Nvidia and Microsoft in reshaping investor expectations around cloud computing.
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Nvidia recently became the world’s most valuable company, surpassing a $4 trillion valuation.
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Microsoft briefly crossed the $4 trillion mark as well, fueled by its AI investments.
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In July, Oracle signed an agreement to supply OpenAI with 4.5 gigawatts of electricity to power its AI systems.
As Oracle’s largest individual shareholder, Ellison was the biggest beneficiary of the rally. Oracle’s market capitalization, which stood at just under $700 billion before the earnings report, is now approaching $1 trillion.
According to Bloomberg, the $101 billion increase in Ellison’s net worth marks the largest single-day gain ever recorded in the history of its billionaire index.
Ellison’s meteoric rise underscores the AI-driven momentum powering global tech firms. Elon Musk, who first became the world’s richest person in 2021, has now lost the title three times, previously ceding it to LVMH’s Bernard Arnault and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
With the AI race intensifying, Oracle’s leap signals a reshuffling of tech wealth and marks a historic milestone for the software giant.
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