Larry Ellison, Oracle’s co-founder and longtime executive chairman and CTO, has overtaken Elon Musk to become the richest individual in the world. All thanks to an extraordinary leap in Oracle’s valuation after its blockbuster earnings update on 10 September, 2025.
Ellison’s fortune soared $101 billion just after Oracle Corp. reported quarterly results that surpassed expectations. Oracle’s stock catapulted nearly 40–42% in a single day, the company’s most dramatic rally in decades. This increased Ellison’s net worth by approximately $101–$112 billion. Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index now pegs his fortune at about $393–$397 billion, edging out Musk, whose net worth is estimated at $384–$385 billion.
Oracle’s earnings highlights
Speaking of Oracle’s earnings, the company gave an aggressive outlook for its cloud business. Cloud revenues jumped 28% to $7.2 billion, with infrastructure (IaaS) growing 55% and applications (SaaS) up 11%. Moreover, Oracles forecast for its cloud infrastructure revenue was a multifold jump of $144 billion over the next four years compared to the $18 billion this fiscal. This guidance has enthused market participants and send the stock soaring.
Ellison edges out Musk in the billionaire rankings
Before today, Ellison ranked just behind Musk, with a net worth hovering in the $190–$200 billion range since early 2025. Musk became the world’s richest person for the first time in 2021 before losing the title to Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos and LVMH’s Bernard Arnault. He reclaimed it last year and had held it for just over 300 days, according to Bloomberg.
On the other hand, Musk’s fortune has softened due to declining Tesla stock, on the back of waning demand and political headwinds. Interestingly, Tesla’s board has put forward an enormous compensation plan for Elon Musk, which, if he achieves a set of bold performance goals, could potentially elevate him to become the first person with a trillion-dollar net worth.
For now Ellison, age 81, relishes the top spot months after Musk managed to reclaimed it.