For the first time ever, Larry Ellison has climbed to the very top of the billionaire leaderboard—overtaking Elon Musk, who had ruled the number one spot for nearly a year.
Ellison’s net worth skyrocketed after Oracle, the software giant he co-founded back in the ’70s, smashed Wall Street expectations with its latest earnings.
By mid-morning in New York, his fortune had jumped a record-breaking $101 billion in a single day—bringing his total wealth to $393 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
Musk now trails in second with $385 billion.
It’s not just a new personal milestone for Ellison, who’s 81 and still actively steering Oracle as Chairman and Chief Tech Officer. It’s also the biggest one-day wealth gain ever tracked by the index.
Oracle stock has been on fire this year, climbing 45% before earnings—and then soaring another 41% in just one trading session after the company projected aggressive growth in its cloud business. That jump marked the company’s largest single-day surge in history.
Meanwhile, Musk’s Tesla hasn’t had the same momentum. Shares are down 13% in 2025, despite the board floating an eye-popping pay package that could one day turn Musk into the world’s first trillionaire—if he meets ambitious performance targets.
Musk first claimed the world’s richest title in 2021, briefly ceded it to Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault, then reclaimed it last year.
But for now, it’s Ellison’s moment in the spotlight.
PHOTO CAPTION: Ellison.
