In the rarefied air of global wealth, where fortunes rise and fall with the volatility of markets and the whims of innovation, Larry Ellison has emerged as a colossus. As of November 3, 2025, the co-founder and chairman of Oracle Corporation commands a personal net worth of $393 billion , according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index—making him the second-richest individual on Earth, trailing only Elon Musk by $59 billion. Once a scrappy entrepreneur who built a database empire from a CIA contract, Ellison now stands at the nexus of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and high-stakes corporate strategy, his wealth doubling in less than a year and quintupling over the past three.
The engine of this extraordinary ascent is Oracle , the Redwood City-based software titan Ellison founded in 1977 with two partners and $2,000. Today, he owns approximately 41% of the company, a stake that has become a golden goose amid the global AI frenzy. Oracle’s stock has soared 97% year-to-date in 2025, propelled by multibillion-dollar cloud infrastructure deals with hyperscalers, governments, and AI startups hungry for secure, scalable computing power. The company reported $57.4 billion in revenue for its fiscal year ending May 31, 2025—a figure that underscores its transformation from a legacy database provider to a cloud and AI powerhouse.
Ellison’s vision, long dismissed by critics as grandiose, now appears prophetic. While competitors like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure dominated early cloud narratives, Oracle quietly built a second-generation cloud optimized for enterprise-grade workloads, compliance, and hybrid environments. Its Autonomous Database , Cloud@Customer , and partnerships with NVIDIA for AI superclusters have positioned Oracle as a critical backbone for the generative AI boom. In July 2025, Oracle shares surged 15% in a single day after announcing a $23 billion joint venture with a consortium of sovereign AI funds—adding $33 billion to Ellison’s net worth in just 24 hours.
But Oracle is only part of the story. Ellison’s portfolio reflects a strategist’s mind as much as a billionaire’s appetite. His 1.7% stake in Tesla , acquired during a 2020 investment round, is now valued at over $20 billion , riding the electric vehicle and autonomous driving wave. In August 2025, he orchestrated one of the year’s boldest media deals: a $8 billion merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media, creating Paramount Skydance a new entertainment juggernaut in which Ellison holds nearly 50% . The move stunned Hollywood, blending tech capital with content creation in an era where streaming, gaming, and AI-generated media converge.
Real estate, long a passion, forms another pillar of Ellison’s empire. He owns **98% of Lanai**, the Hawaiian island purchased for $300 million in 2012, which he has transformed into a sustainability and wellness laboratory—complete with a Nobu hotel, organic farms, and a desalination plant. His California portfolio includes Carbon Mesa in Malibu (a 25-acre oceanfront compound) and the Porcupine Creek estate in Rancho Mirage, a former private golf resort now hosting tech summits and philanthropic retreats. In Florida, he has quietly amassed waterfront properties in Palm Beach and Manalapan, part of a broader migration of tech wealth to the Sunshine State.
Ellison’s journey from a Chicago orphan to global titan is the stuff of Silicon Valley legend. Born in 1944 to an unwed Jewish mother, he was adopted by his aunt and uncle in Chicago’s South Side. He dropped out of college twice—first from the University of Illinois, then the University of Chicago—before moving to California in 1966. There, he taught himself coding, worked odd jobs at electronics firms, and eventually landed a contract with the CIA to build a relational database. That project, codenamed Oracle , became the foundation of his company—and the namesake of his destiny.
For decades, Ellison cultivated a reputation as tech’s most flamboyant billionaire: racing yachts in the America’s Cup (which he won in 2010 and 2013), piloting fighter jets, and engaging in public feuds with rivals like Salesforce’s Marc Benioff (his former protégé). He once famously said, “The computer industry is the only industry more fashion-driven than women’s fashion.” Yet beneath the bravado lies a relentless competitor who stepped down as Oracle’s CEO in 2014 but never relinquished control—remaining chairman and chief technology officer, steering the company through its cloud pivot.
His wealth has not been without controversy. In September 2025, Ellison briefly claimed the title of world’s richest person , surpassing Musk with a net worth of $393 billion to Musk’s $385 billion a moment that lasted less than 48 hours before Tesla’s stock rebounded. The episode reignited debates about wealth concentration, executive compensation, and the societal role of tech billionaires. Critics point to Oracle’s aggressive tax strategies and Ellison’s $1 billion annual dividend from his stake. Supporters counter that his innovations have created 145,000 jobs and powered digital infrastructure for governments, hospitals, and Fortune 500 companies worldwide.
Philanthropy, too, is part of Ellison’s legacy—though executed on his terms. He signed the Giving Pledge in 2010, committing to donate 95% of his wealth. His Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine , launched with a $200 million gift in 2018, uses AI to accelerate cancer research, pandemic modeling, and climate solutions. In 2025, however, the institute underwent a leadership shakeup, with its founding CEO departing amid reports of strategic disagreements—raising questions about the pace and transparency of Ellison’s giving.
As AI reshapes industries, Ellison’s influence extends beyond balance sheets. Oracle’s Health AI platform, deployed in over 300 hospital systems, uses machine learning to predict patient outcomes and optimize care. Its National Security Cloud , certified at the highest government levels, underpins defense and intelligence operations. And in a lesser-known move, Ellison has funded ocean cleanup initiatives through the Lanai Sustainability Research Center, applying AI to track plastic pollution and restore coral reefs.
At 81, Ellison shows no signs of slowing. He recently told analysts, “Cloud isn’t the future—it’s the present. And AI isn’t coming—it’s here. We’re just getting started.” Industry watchers speculate he may push Oracle into sovereign AI clouds for nations like Saudi Arabia, India, and Japan, or deepen integration with Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer for autonomous driving.
For now, Larry Ellison remains a paradox: a man who lives like a monarch yet codes like an engineer; who gives away billions while amassing more; who races sailboats at 50 knots and builds databases that run the world. His net worth $393 billion and counting is not just a number. It is a testament to vision, timing, and the transformative power of technology in the 21st century.