Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, briefly surpassed Elon Musk to become the world's richest person on Wednesday, as Oracle shares surged over 40% in early trading following better-than-expected financial results. According to Bloomberg's billionaires index, Ellison's net worth peaked at $393bn, edging ahead of Musk's $384bn, though the lead was short-lived as Oracle shares closed up 36%, valuing Ellison's stake at $378bn and returning Musk to the top spot.
Ellison, 81, owns a 41% stake in Oracle, which accounts for the bulk of his wealth. The company's value has been boosted by demand for its cloud services from AI firms such as OpenAI. Ellison's other assets include a stake in Tesla, a sailing team, the Indian Wells Open tennis tournament, and an island in Hawaii.
Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, first became the world's richest person in 2021. He and Ellison have a close relationship, with Ellison serving on Tesla's board from 2018 to 2022 and investing $1bn in Musk's purchase of Twitter, now X. Musk has visited Ellison's Hawaiian island, Lanai, according to Walter Isaacson's biography of Musk.
Both billionaires have ties to US President Donald Trump. Ellison has appeared at the White House for events such as the Stargate AI infrastructure project launch, while Musk was a prominent backer of Trump's 2024 campaign before their relationship soured earlier this year.
