Larry Ellison Surpasses Elon Musk to Become the World’s Richest Man

The Oracle co-founder boosts his fortune by 40% thanks to a surge in company shares.

Larry Ellison, chairman and co-founder of Oracle, has overtaken Elon Musk on the list of the world’s wealthiest individuals, becoming the richest man on the planet. Ellison’s rise has been meteoric in recent hours, following an impressive 43% jump in Oracle’s stock on the New York Stock Exchange, which has propelled his fortune to new heights.

At 81, Ellison maintains significant control over the company, owning 41% of Oracle’s shares. This makes his net worth directly tied to market fluctuations. Today alone, his wealth surged by more than $100 billion, reaching a total of $393 billion (around €330 billion).

Ellison Surpasses Musk in Global Wealth Rankings

Ellison has now surpassed the fortune of Elon Musk, owner of Tesla, SpaceX, and the social network X. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk’s current net worth stands at $385 billion (€329 billion), weakened by the volatility of his businesses. In contrast, Oracle’s boom, driven by its strong focus on artificial intelligence applied to cloud services and databases, seems unstoppable.

Oracle Thrives While Musk’s Fortune Declines

Oracle’s growth has been remarkable, benefiting from major contracts with tech giants such as OpenAI, Nvidia, and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. Despite only a minimal 0.1% profit increase last quarter, analysts continue to view Oracle as one of the strongest players in the sector.

“This first quarter has been extraordinary,” said Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle.

The company reported revenues of $14.9 billion (€12.74 billion), up 12% compared to the same period last year. Oracle also posted its biggest stock surge since going public in 1992, with a market capitalization close to $940 billion (€800 billion).

Recently signed contracts reinforce Oracle’s outlook for continued growth, with projections suggesting it could add half a trillion dollars to its market value in the near future.

Musk Loses Ground as Ellison Reaches New Heights

This historic surge has allowed Ellison to surpass Musk, who has faced a 13% drop in Tesla’s stock value since the start of the year. Although Musk remains a dominant figure in technology, pressures on his various ventures and his recent distancing from influential political figures such as former U.S. President Donald Trump seem to have affected his wealth.

Following Ellison and Musk, other tech titans remain among the world’s richest: Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, and Larry Page of Google all continue to hold leading positions.

This shift at the top of the world’s wealth rankings highlights the ongoing transformation of the tech sector, where traditional companies are being challenged by new technologies like artificial intelligence and cloud computing.