Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison has overtaken Elon Musk as the world’s richest person, after a sharp rise in Oracle’s share price added $101 billion to Ellison’s fortune, lifting his net worth to $393 billion. Musk’s wealth was valued at $385 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
The change in rankings followed Oracle’s earnings announcement on Tuesday evening, where the company reported strong demand for its cloud infrastructure services. Shares of Oracle surged 41 percent on Wednesday, marking the company’s biggest single-day gain since 1992.
Oracle Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz said the company signed four multibillion-dollar contracts during the quarter and expects to finalize additional deals in the coming months.
“We’ll be talking about this one for a long time,” said Ben Reitzes, analyst at Melius Research, in a note to investors. Reitzes described Oracle’s $455 billion backlog in AI-related services as “staggering.”
The company has positioned itself as a key supplier of infrastructure for artificial intelligence companies. In July, Oracle entered into an agreement to provide OpenAI with 4.5 gigawatts of electricity to support its AI systems.
Ellison, Oracle’s largest individual shareholder, benefited directly from the surge in stock value. Oracle’s market capitalization, which stood just under $700 billion at Tuesday’s close, is now approaching the $1 trillion mark.
Bloomberg described the increase in Ellison’s net worth as the largest single-day gain ever recorded by its index.
The rise reflects the momentum of technology firms driving AI development.
Oracle has joined companies such as Nvidia and Microsoft in reshaping investor expectations around cloud infrastructure. Nvidia recently became the world’s most valuable company, surpassing $4 trillion in valuation, while Microsoft briefly crossed the same threshold.
Musk, who first became the world’s richest person in 2021, has lost the top spot twice before, to LVMH’s Bernard Arnault and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
His wealth remains closely tied to Tesla and SpaceX.
Ellison, 81, co-founded Oracle in 1977 and has since expanded his holdings to include 98 percent of the Hawaiian island of Lana’i and ownership of the Indian Wells tennis tournament in California.
