Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison surged through the billionaire rankings this week — amassing more than $70 billion in a matter of hours — to dethrone Elon Musk. The sharp increase came as the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results after markets closed on Tuesday. Oracle shares rose about 40% on Wednesday.
The 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, the tech founder became worth $364 billion as Oracle shares rose on September 9. The number was within striking distance of the $384 billion fortune that has cemented Musk in the top spot for over 300 days. Ellision owns more than 40% of the Texas-based company which underpins many of the biggest corporate operations in the world. He also owns a stake in the Musk-led Tesla as well as a sailing team, the Indian Wells tennis event and real estate.
What is driving the Oracle surge?
Oracle shares had soared about 33% before the bell on Wednesday as the company highlighted a growing demand for its cloud services from AI firms — underscoring its deeper push into the backbone of artificial intelligence systems.
The company reported four multi-billion-dollar contracts with three clients during the recently concluded August quarter. This will push its cloud infrastructure revenue up 77% to $18 billion this fiscal year. Its cloud infrastructure business provides the building blocks — hardware and software — that enable cloud computing and the delivery of applications over the internet.
Shares have risen 45% so far this year, outperforming stocks in the so-called Magnificent Seven and the broader S&P 500 index, with investors betting big on AI-driven cloud firms. Oracle’s results lifted shares of Nvidia, Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices, which supply semiconductors used in data centers. Shares of the companies rose between 2% and 3.3% in premarket trading.
Who are the richest people in the world?
Elon Musk had been the world’s richest with a $384 billion fortune for nearly an year before being dethroned by Ellison. Real-time data on the Bloomberg Billionaire Index puts Facebook and Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg in third place with a net worth of $269 billion while Amazon’s Jeff Bezos follows with $258 billion. Alphabet and Google co-founder Larry Page rounds out the top five with a reported $210 billion.