Larry Ellison surpasses Elon Musk to become the richest person on the planet

(Dan Tri) - Larry Ellison unexpectedly surpassed Elon Musk to become the richest person in the world - a testament to the power of AI infrastructure and wise strategy.

The $101 billion surge and the historic change of throne

In a historic trading day, while much of the world was still watching the movements of Tesla or social networks, Larry Ellison, the 81-year-old captain of Oracle, made a spectacular asset acceleration.

Overnight, Larry Ellison, chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle, saw his fortune soar by $101 billion. Shares of the software giant surged more than 40% after the company reported earnings that beat expectations.

This figure is not only a record in the stock market, it also officially brings Larry Ellison to the peak of fame. With a total estimated net worth of 393 billion USD, he has officially surpassed Elon Musk ($385 billion) to become the richest person in the world for the first time in his career, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

While the tech world is familiar with names like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos constantly stirring up the media, Larry Ellison is like a "silent giant". He rarely appears, does not participate in social media wars, but quietly builds an empire that is becoming the backbone for the most important revolution of the 21st century: Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The change of leadership is all the more dramatic given the contrasting empires. While Ellison is thriving at Oracle, Elon Musk is facing a number of challenges. Tesla’s stock has fallen 13% since the start of the year, and the electric carmaker’s US market share has fallen to its lowest level since 2017.

Musk, who held the crown for about 300 days, still has ambitious goals, including a compensation package that could make him the first trillionaire. But that depends on Tesla’s stock price increasing eightfold over the next 10 years—a future that’s still ahead. Ellison’s victory, by contrast, is a reality dictated by the current needs of the entire tech industry.

It shows an interesting shift in the flow of money and power: from end-consumer (B2C) tech companies to quiet giants that provide platforms for businesses (B2B).

Ellison's fortune skyrocketed in just one day to $393 billion, surpassing Elon Musk to become the richest person on the planet (Photo: Getty).

AI Gold Mine: When "picks and shovels" are more valuable than gold

So what has created this meteoric rise for Oracle, a technology company that was once thought to be past its prime? The answer lies in two words: cloud and AI.

In the global AI frenzy that began with ChatGPT, tech companies big and small rushed into the race to build large language models (LLMs). They were like gold miners, and to mine gold, they needed cutting-edge tools: massive computing power and unlimited data storage. Oracle, under Ellison’s leadership, positioned itself not as a gold miner, but as a seller of “picks and shovels” and a renter of the most prime “land.”

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) has become the top choice for AI giants like Nvidia and OpenAI.

Oracle CEO Safra Catz revealed a shocking piece of information: the company has a total of $455 billion in cloud service contracts, a figure that is expected to surpass half a trillion dollars in the coming months.

This is the jet engine that propels Ellison's fortune. He currently owns more than 40% of Oracle's shares, and the company's success is his success. At 81, instead of retiring, Larry Ellison is still in the position of CTO, directly guiding the strategies that bet on the future.

Most recently, he visited the White House, announcing an ambitious project in partnership with Masayoshi Son (SoftBank) and Sam Altman (OpenAI) to build a $500 billion data center network that, of course, will run on Oracle technology.

When wealth reshapes Hollywood

Larry Ellison's massive fortune is more than just a number on a chart. It's creating ripples that have far-reaching effects on other industries, most notably his media and entertainment empire.

The story of Larry’s son, David Ellison, is a vivid example. Earlier this year, David completed the $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global (owner of CBS and MTV), a deal largely backed by his billionaire father’s fortune.

And the day Larry Ellison made over $100 billion was a stark reminder of why David could be so bold. His father’s one-day increase in wealth was several times larger than Paramount’s entire market capitalization (about $17 billion).

This gives David something that not every media mogul has: a “nearly endless financial runway.” Since taking over, David has been unabashed in his spending: spending $7 billion on UFC broadcasting rights, signing deals with the producers of “Stranger Things,” and securing the rights to a movie based on the video game “Call of Duty.”

Unlike his rivals, who have to worry about shareholder reaction to every spending decision, David Ellison can make bold and expensive moves. If investors get upset and sell off their shares, the Ellison family has enough clout to not be deterred. If David wants to take over a major rival like Warner Bros., raising money is no problem. Essentially, Larry Ellison has given his son not just money, but the freedom to reshape the Hollywood game as he wishes.

Larry Ellison backed the deal that helped his son, David Ellison, take over Paramount this year (Photo: Getty).

Larry Ellison's dethronement is an important indicator of the reshaping of the global economy .

At 81, the “quiet giant” Larry Ellison has proven that, in the age of AI, the biggest winner may not be the one who builds the smartest machines, but the one who builds the strongest home for all those machines. And from the top of the world, he is not only watching, but also continuing to lay the foundations for the future.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/larry-ellison-vuot-mat-elon-musk-vuon-len-ngoi-giau-nhat-hanh-tinh-20250911091403754.htm