Larry Ellison has ascended to become the world’s fourth-richest person, with his net worth reaching $181 billion, surpassing LVMH’s Bernard Arnault. The Oracle cofounder and chief technology officer experienced a dramatic rise on Monday as Oracle’s stock surged 5%, adding $7 billion to his fortune in a single day.
Ellison’s wealth trajectory this year has been remarkable. Starting 2024 in eighth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he has gained an astounding $57.8 billion year-to-date, making him the third-biggest wealth gainer behind only Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg ($61.4 billion gain) and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang ($58.5 billion gain). The 80-year-old tech veteran has systematically overtaken industry titans including Google’s Larry Page, Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, and now Arnault.
Currently, Ellison trails only Elon Musk ($248 billion), Jeff Bezos ($208 billion), and Mark Zuckerberg ($189 billion) on Bloomberg’s rankings. Forbes places him even higher as the world’s second-wealthiest person with a $207 billion fortune.
The primary driver of Ellison’s wealth explosion is his approximately 40% stake in Oracle, which has seen extraordinary growth fueled by the artificial intelligence revolution. Over just two years, his net worth has ballooned by 125%, from roughly $80 billion in mid-October 2022 to $181 billion. Oracle’s stock has more than doubled during this period, climbing from under $70 to a record $170, with a 62% increase in 2024 alone.
Oracle’s pivotal role in the AI boom has captivated investors and driven the stock surge. The database giant’s recent quarterly report revealed impressive results: adjusted earnings per share jumped 18% year-over-year for the three months ending in August. More significantly, Oracle’s contract backlog swelled by 53% to a record $99 billion, as AI companies increasingly rely on Oracle’s cloud data centers and services to power their operations.
Ellison, who served as Oracle CEO from 1977 to 2014, also benefits from his 1.4% stake in Tesla, valued at approximately $10 billion. He acquired these shares in Elon Musk’s electric-vehicle company before joining Tesla’s board in 2018, retaining them after his departure in 2022.
Key Quotes
Oracle’s quarterly report showed adjusted earnings per share jumped 18% year-over-year in the three months through August.
This financial metric demonstrates Oracle’s strong operational performance driven by AI demand, showing that the company is successfully monetizing the AI boom through its cloud and database services.
Its contract backlog also swelled by 53% to a record $99 billion as AI companies lined up to use its cloud data centers and services.
This represents the most significant indicator of Oracle’s AI-driven growth, revealing massive future revenue potential as artificial intelligence companies increasingly depend on Oracle’s infrastructure to power their operations.
Our Take
Ellison’s ascent illuminates a critical but often overlooked aspect of the AI revolution: the infrastructure layer is proving as lucrative as the AI models themselves. While much attention focuses on companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, Oracle’s success demonstrates that traditional enterprise technology companies with cloud and database expertise are positioned to capture enormous value.
The $99 billion contract backlog is particularly telling—it suggests sustained, long-term demand rather than speculative investment. AI companies need reliable, scalable infrastructure, and Oracle’s decades of enterprise experience provide competitive advantages that newer cloud providers may lack.
What’s especially noteworthy is that three of the top four wealth gainers this year—Ellison, Zuckerberg, and Huang—are directly benefiting from AI. This concentration signals that we’re witnessing a fundamental economic shift where AI infrastructure, chips, and platforms are creating unprecedented value, potentially reshaping the technology landscape for decades to come.
Why This Matters
This story underscores the massive wealth creation occurring at the intersection of cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Ellison’s dramatic rise—alongside gains by Zuckerberg and Huang—demonstrates that the AI boom isn’t just hype but is translating into substantial business value and revenue growth.
Oracle’s 53% surge in contract backlog to $99 billion reveals the explosive demand for AI infrastructure. As companies race to develop and deploy AI models, they require massive cloud computing resources and database capabilities—Oracle’s core strengths. This positions traditional enterprise software companies as critical enablers of the AI revolution, not just chip manufacturers or AI model developers.
The concentration of wealth among AI-adjacent billionaires also highlights how a small group of technology leaders and their companies are capturing the economic benefits of AI advancement. This raises important questions about wealth inequality, market concentration, and whether the benefits of AI will be broadly distributed or concentrated among a few tech giants and their founders. For investors and businesses, Oracle’s success demonstrates that AI infrastructure and cloud services represent a lucrative opportunity beyond just developing AI models themselves.
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