…Oracle’s shares, which had already risen 45 per cent this year, soared 41 per cent after the company announced strong bookings and an upbeat outlook for its cloud infrastructure unit
“When people start telling you that you’re crazy, you just might be on to the most important innovation in your life” – Larry Ellison
Oracle co-founder, Larry Ellison, has claimed above Elon Musk to become the world’s richest person, putting an end to the Tesla boss’s nearly year-long reign at the top of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Bloomberg reports that Ellison’s fortune increased by a record $101bn on Wednesday after Oracle reported quarterly results that surpassed expectations and signalled further growth in its cloud business.
The increase lifted Ellison’s wealth to $393bn, putting him ahead of Musk, whose net worth now stands at $385bn.
The 81-year-old tech billionaire’s gains mark the biggest one-day jump ever recorded on Bloomberg’s index.
Oracle’s shares, which had already risen 45 per cent this year, soared 41 per cent after the company announced strong bookings and an upbeat outlook for its cloud infrastructure unit.
Ellison, who serves as chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle, holds the bulk of his fortune in the company’s stock.
Musk, who first became the world’s richest person in 2021, had reclaimed the title last year and held it for just over 300 days.
He previously lost the crown to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and LVMH boss Bernard Arnault.
Tesla shares have fallen 13 per cent this year.
The company’s board has proposed a massive pay package for Musk that could make him the world’s first trillionaire if he hits a series of ambitious targets.
Credit– Times of India
About Larry Ellison
Ellison has held various leadership roles in Oracle, including being president of Oracle from 1978 to 1996. He was also chairman twice, from 1990 to 1992. In 1992, he had a near-fatal bodysurfing accident. He came back in 1995 for about a decade.
In 2014, Ellison stepped down as Oracle CEO and was named executive chairman of the board and chief technology officer, both titles he currently holds.
The company announced Tuesday that it signed four multibillion-dollar contracts with customers during the quarter and expects to sign several more in the coming months, propelling the stock — and Ellison’s wealth — to astronomical levels.
But it’s not all work and no play.
In 2012, Ellison bought 98% of Lana’i, the sixth-largest island in Hawaii.
He’s also a big sailor. In 2013, Oracle Team USA, the team he backed, came from behind to win and successfully defend the America’s Cup. The team dissolved in 2017.
In 2018, Ellison cofounded SailGP, a high-speed catamaran racing league that competes around the world and has attracted celebrity backers. Most recently, actress Anne Hathaway and a consortium of investors acquired the Italy SailGP team and soccer star Kylian Mbappé has invested in the France SailGP team.
Ellison has donated to medical efforts, too. In 2016, he announced a $200 million donation to the University of Southern California to establish a cancer research and treatment center.
After his death, Ellison’s wealth will still be felt — somewhere.
In 2010, he signed the Giving Pledge, a Bill Gates-backed initiative that promises to give away at least 95% of one’s wealth to charity. Ellison recently announced on X he was “amending” that effort, funneling some of the money toward a technical institute he founded with the University of Oxford.
The Ellison Institute of Technology’s “humane endeavors include transforming healthcare by designing and distributing a new generation of life-saving drugs, combating world hunger by engineering higher yielding crops and building a global network of low-cost indoor growing systems, and slowing climate change by developing efficient clean energy generation and storage system,” he wrote.
How it all started
It traces back to 1977, when Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates founded Software Development Laboratories in Santa Clara, California. They were contracted by the CIA to build a database program code-named “Oracle.”
Five years later, the company changed its name to Oracle and went public in 1986. Throughout the four decades, the company has found various levels of success in technology, but most recently in demand for its data center capacity from AI customers.
Credit: CNN
