Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison just pulled off one of the biggest wealth shifts in history, officially passing Elon Musk to claim the top spot as the world’s richest person. The 81-year-old tech giant saw his fortune skyrocket after Oracle’s stock surged more than 40% in a single day, thanks to its booming role in powering artificial intelligence.
Ellison’s net worth jumped by over 100 billion in just 24 hours, marking the largest single day wealth gain ever recorded. That leap pushed his fortune to nearly 395 billion, edging out Musk, whose wealth sits around 384 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. Some outlets like Forbes still list Musk on top because of differences in how they value SpaceX, but Bloomberg has officially crowned Ellison number one.
So what is behind this historic rise? Oracle has become one of the biggest players in the AI boom, providing cloud infrastructure to companies like OpenAI, xAI, and Meta. The company revealed future contracts worth 455 billion, an explosive 359 percent increase from last year, cementing its role as the backbone of AI development.
Ellison, who owns a 41 percent stake in Oracle, has been vocal about his belief that “AI will change everything.” That bet has paid off in a major way, not only securing Oracle’s spot in the trillion dollar company club but also rewriting the leaderboard of the world’s wealthiest.
For years, Musk has dominated headlines as the richest man alive, thanks to Tesla, SpaceX, and his other ventures. But this moment signals a massive shift in where the real money is flowing: behind the scenes infrastructure powering artificial intelligence.
