Who is Larry Ellison? How Oracle chairman briefly became world’s second-richest man, surpassing Jeff Bezos

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison briefly surpassed Jeff Bezos of Amazon on the list of the world's richest people.

Published on: Sep 18, 2024, 22:25:35 IST

By Sumanti Sen

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Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison briefly surpassed Jeff Bezos of Amazon on the list of the world's richest people. This happened after Oracle's stock hit record highs.

How Oracle chairman Larry Ellison briefly became world’s second-richest man (AP)

Oracle shares closed up 5.1% on Monday, September 16, prompting Ellison to become the world’s second-richest person for a brief period. Ellison holds roughly 40% of Oracle, and has directly profited from the recent spike in stock prices.

A moment came when Ellison’s wealth increased to over $208 billion, briefly surpassing Bezos’s $204 billion net worth. Ellison was listed as the second-richest person in the world for the first time.

However, Ellison's net worth soon dropped to $181 billion. Bezos’ net worth, on the other hand, rose to $208 billion. Elon Musk remained the wealthiest person, having a net worth of $248 billion.

Oracle has focused on cloud services and AI, and that has seemed to pay off. At a recent event, Ellison even predicted that the company’s cloud databases will continue to grow with more companies choosing Oracle for their cloud services.

Ellison also said during a recent Oracle financial analyst meeting that he believes that AI will bring in a new era of widespread monitoring, and Oracle could be an important part of this transformation. “Citizens will be on their best behavior because we’re constantly recording and reporting,” Ellison said.

Who is Larry Ellison?

Ellison is the chairman of Oracle Corporation and chief technology officer. He founded the company in 1977, and served as CEO until September 2014. According to Forbes, “Oracle has grown in part through steady acquisitions of software companies: the biggest was $28.3 billion for electronic health records company Cerner in 2021.”

Ellison moved permanently to the Hawaiian island Lanai back in 2020. He is known to have been on Tesla's board from December 2018 to August 2022, and continues to own about 15 million shares in the electric carmaker.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sumanti Sen
Sumanti Sen covers everything that’s happening in the US, from politics to entertainment, but her expertise lies in covering crime news. She has comprehensively chronicled the Idaho student murders, the Laken Riley and Iryna Zarutska cases, and the killing of Charlie Kirk, among other incidents. Over the years, she has interviewed several victims/families of victims of crimes seeking justice. She digs up stories that might otherwise remain unheard, and does her bit to ensure that victims and survivors’ voices are heard. Sumanti’s many years of experience also include interviews with Hamas attack survivors and mental health experts, among others. Her coverage of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and interviews with survivors of the tragedy, coupled with her other works including the Titan submersible coverage, earned her the Digi Journo of the Quarter award during her first year at Hindustan Times. Sumanti actively tracks missing person cases in the United States, and peruses Reddit and other social media platforms to bring to light cases that frequently elude public attention. She has extensively covered the disappearances of Nancy Guthrie, Thomas Medlin, Beau Mann, and Sudiksha Konanki, among others. When not at work, you will either find her with her novels, or with her beloved rescue pooches.Read More

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