Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle, has become the second richest man in the world after adding $40 billion to his net worth in just two days, bringing it to $258 billion.
Following Oracle’s better-than-expected earnings, the billionaire tech executive surpassed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos amid a significant surge in Oracle shares.
A recent Forbes article claims that Oracle’s stock surged 13 per cent on Thursday and 7 per cent by mid-Friday, reaching a record high of roughly $215 per share.
According to Forbes data, this two-day rally increased Oracle’s market capitalisation by $104 billion, which is more than the total valuation of companies like Intel or Nike.
Elison’s main driver of dramatic growth in wealth
Ellison’s 41 per cent stake in the business he co-founded in 1977 was the primary driver of the dramatic rise in his wealth, which reached $25 billion on Thursday and $16 billion on Friday.
The only person with a higher net worth than Ellison on Forbes’ list of real-time billionaires is Elon Musk, who has $414 billion.
“Ellison’s net worth accordingly rocketed by more than $40 billion to $258 billion from Wednesday to Friday, enjoying easily the largest daily bump of any billionaire on both Thursday and Friday when his fortune rose by about $25 billion and $16 billion, respectively, according to Forbes data.”
“That gain was enough to vault Ellison past Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos ($228 billion net worth) and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg ($238 billion) for the second spot on Forbes’ real-time billionaires ranking. Ellison is now only less wealthy than his longtime friend Elon Musk ($414 billion net worth),” the Forbes report read in part.
Oracle’s quarterly financial report
The Forbes report also noted that Oracle’s quarterly earnings report, which was released on Wednesday and exceeded Wall Street expectations, was the catalyst for the rally.
For the quarter that ended last month, the company reported $15.9 billion in revenue and adjusted earnings per share of $1.70.
The performance was cited as the result of growing demand for Oracle’s cloud infrastructure, particularly in supporting workloads related to artificial intelligence.
Analysts’ review
Analysts saw the earnings as a turning point in Oracle’s history. Deutsche Bank’s Brad Zelnick called it a “watershed event” for the business, emphasising its importance in changing investor sentiment.
In the meantime, according to Derrick Wood of TD Cowen, Oracle’s 2026 fiscal year, which started this month, may see faster growth driven primarily by the growing use of AI technologies.
With its platforms supporting popular apps and government data, Oracle has made a name for itself in the AI and cloud infrastructure space. Additionally, it hosts the user data for TikTok in the United States.
Ellison still active at 80 years old
At eighty, Ellison is still very much involved in politics and technology. Alongside former US President Donald Trump, he recently assisted in the launch of Stargate, a joint AI infrastructure venture between Oracle, SoftBank, and OpenAI.
He previously served on Tesla’s board and contributed to GOP campaign efforts.
Ellison’s wealth increase and Oracle’s stock rise are indicative of the general investor excitement surrounding AI infrastructure providers.
Oracle and Ellison are benefiting financially as AI continues to influence enterprise computing.