Larry Ellison passed Sergey Brin and Steve Ballmer to become the seventh-richest person in the world Wednesday after Oracle Corp. reported “enormous” AI-related demand for its cloud infrastructure, sending shares to a record high.
Ellison’s fortune, roughly three-quarters of which is derived from Oracle, jumped US$14 billion ($18.89 billion) to US$152 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s his biggest one-day increase ever and pushes him ahead of both Google co-founder Brin and former Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Ballmer for the first time since December.
Oracle is expanding its cloud unit to compete with major players like Google parent Alphabet Inc. as demand surges for capacity to support artificial intelligence. The company, which Ellison co-founded more than 40 years ago, also announced a new agreement to make its namesake database available on Google’s cloud infrastructure when it reported earnings Tuesday night. It previously signed a similar deal with Microsoft.
Shares in Austin-based Oracle jumped 13%, the most since 2021, bringing Ellison’s total wealth gain this year to US$29 billion.
Oracle, which is best known for its software, is working to redefine itself as a major player in the cloud-computing business. That’s put Ellison, 79, on the short list of billionaires whose wealth has skyrocketed this year due to the AI-fueled rally in tech stocks. Nvidia Corp. co-founder Jensen Huang’s net worth has jumped by US$66 billion while Brin’s fortune is up by US$28 billion.
Ellison’s wealth has also gotten a boost from Tesla Inc.’s recent gains. He disclosed an initial stake in Elon Musk’s company in 2018 and was on the board of directors until 2022. His shares are now worth about US$8 billion.
