U.S. tech mogul Larry Ellison has surpassed Elon Musk to become the wealthiest individual globally, primarily through his holdings in Oracle, the company he co-founded.
Ellison’s fortune surged after Oracle, in which he holds a 41% stake, reported stronger-than-anticipated financial performance.
In early trading, Oracle’s shares skyrocketed by over 40% to $340 each, valuing the enterprise software firm at $958 billion (£70.7 billion) and pushing Ellison’s net worth to $393 billion.
This stock surge marks the largest single-day increase in the company’s history and represents the highest one-day wealth gain ever recorded on the Bloomberg Index. Ellison and Musk currently lead ahead of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
In addition to Oracle, Ellison’s wealth stems from various ventures, including Musk’s sailing team, the Indian Wells Open Tennis Tournament, and investments in Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer based in Hawaii, according to Bloomberg.
Musk, often at odds with different figures in business and politics, maintains a close relationship with Ellison, who is regarded as a trailblazer among South African-born tech entrepreneurs.
Ellison served on Tesla’s board from 2018 to 2022 and has invested $1 billion in Musk’s Twitter since its rebranding as X. In Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk, it is mentioned that when the Tesla CEO asked Ellison to invest in Twitter, he replied, “What do you recommend?” The book also highlights Musk’s frequent visits to Lanai, the Hawaiian island owned by Ellison.
Ellison is known to support Donald Trump and regularly appears alongside the U.S. President, including the launch of the Stargate project, which commits $500 million to American AI infrastructure. Musk, a well-known backer of Trump’s 2024 campaign, previously had close connections with Trump before they deteriorated earlier this year.
Oracle plays a significant role in Ellison’s financial portfolio, driven by the rising demand for cloud services from AI companies needing computing capabilities, such as those utilized by ChatGPT developer OpenAI.
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As reported by Bloomberg, Musk, who also leads SpaceX, first claimed the title of the richest person in the world in 2021.
He regained the title last year, but just 300 days later, it passed back to Ellison, now 81 years old.
Source: www.theguardian.com
