Oracle’s Larry Ellison Briefly Becomes World’s Second-Richest Person, Surpassing Jeff Bezos

Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison briefly claimed the title of the world’s second-richest person on Friday, overtaking Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Ellison’s net worth reached $208.4 billion shortly after the market opened before settling at $197 billion, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaires list. Meanwhile, Bezos’ fortune stands at $204 billion. Elon Musk remains the world’s wealthiest person, with a net worth of $252 billion.

Ellison’s rise in wealth was driven by Oracle’s best stock market performance since 2021. The company’s shares surged, closing at $162.03 on Friday, bolstered by an optimistic revenue forecast through fiscal 2029 and strong quarterly results. Oracle’s stock has risen about 54% this year, second only to AI chipmaker Nvidia among large-cap tech stocks.

As Oracle’s co-founder and its largest shareholder with a 40% stake, Ellison has significantly benefited from the company’s resurgence in cloud infrastructure and the growing demand for its cloud databases. Over the past year, Oracle has strengthened its cloud offerings by partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, and Google, positioning itself for further growth in both public and private cloud markets.

Ellison’s wealth fluctuated as he and Bezos competed for the second spot on the world’s richest list, just days after Oracle announced a new partnership with Amazon. Under this partnership, Oracle’s database software will be available for AWS customers, further boosting Oracle’s cloud presence.