2025 began with Elon Musk leading DOGE under Trump’s 2.0, and many assumed the Tesla mogul would dominate the year. Surprisingly, 12 months later, he was not even close to being the tech boss who defined it. According to a Bloomberg analysis, that spot belongs to Larry Ellison, who quietly took over the spotlight.
Ellison, the 81-year-old co-founder and chairman of Oracle, ended up being everywhere. From artificial intelligence deals to Hollywood power plays and even a possible role in TikTok’s future, his name kept coming up in some of the biggest business stories of the year.
How Larry Ellison became the most talked-about tech boss
Just a day after Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, Ellison appeared at the White House alongside OpenAI chief Sam Altman and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son. Together, they announced Stargate, a $500 billion plan to build AI data centers across the United States. The project came with big promises, including creating 100,000 jobs. While some questioned whether the full amount would ever be spent, Oracle moved ahead.
The company began building AI data centres at a pace that surprised even the biggest critics. The spending was so heavy that Oracle’s cash flow turned negative for the first time since the early 1990s. For Ellison, this was definitely something big. Years ago, he had missed the cloud computing wave. Now, he was fully betting on AI.
OpenAI deal sends Oracle soaring
The AI bet paid off, at least for a while. In the summer, OpenAI signed a deal worth about $300 billion to rent computing power from Oracle. The agreement made OpenAI Oracle’s biggest customer.
When Oracle revealed the size of that deal in September, investors’ reactions changed the game. Oracle’s stock jumped, and Ellison’s net worth rose by $89 billion in a single day. For a brief moment, he became the richest person in the world, overtaking Musk.
Hollywood ambitions and billions
Not only Ellison, but his son David also stole quite a few headlines this year. In August, David’s company, Skydance Media, completed a long-running deal to take control of Paramount. The acquisition was mostly financed by Larry Ellison.
Soon after, David set his sights on Warner Bros. Discovery, home to famous franchises like Batman and Harry Potter. Larry Ellison personally supported the effort and helped pitch the deal to executives, according to Bloomberg.
But Warner Bros. rejected the offer and instead chose Netflix. Skydance responded with a hostile bid, similar to the tactics Larry Ellison once used in his own career. When doubts were raised about the financing, Ellison stepped in again, agreeing to personally guarantee $40.4 billion. For now, the deal is undecided.
Ellison’s fortune under pressure
Oracle’s stock later fell as investors grew alarmed about AI spending. As Oracle’s shares plunged, Ellison’s wealth dropped with them. He is now the fifth-richest person in the world, with a fortune just under $250 billion. While that is more than enough to cover the guarantee on paper, most of his wealth is linked to Oracle stock, not cash.
According to Bloomberg, before 2025, Ellison mostly spent his money on luxury items like planes, yachts, property in Malibu, and much of Hawaii’s Lanai island. He also backed a few of his children’s film projects. This year was different. His wealth is now largely invested in a high-stakes AI race and a media company still finding its footing. Whether those bets will fully pay off remains unclear. But one thing is certain: in 2025, Larry Ellison became impossible to ignore.