Oracle’s Larry Ellison Surpasses Jeff Bezos to Become World’s Second-Richest Person
Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, has taken the No. 2 spot on the world’s richest list, surpassing Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. This change is driven by Oracle’s significant surge in stock price, fueled by the company’s growth in cloud infrastructure sales and its involvement in AI-focused computing power.
Oracle’s shares jumped 13% to $199.85 at Thursday’s close in New York, marking the largest single-day gain in a year. The company forecasted a 70% increase in cloud infrastructure sales for the fiscal year, according to Bloomberg reports. Oracle is capitalizing on the AI boom by serving clients like OpenAI and experiencing unprecedented demand for its data center capacity.
“Oracle is on its way to becoming one of the world’s largest cloud infrastructure companies,” said Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz in a statement. She added that fiscal year 2026 revenue growth rates are expected to be “dramatically higher.”
The AI boom has driven demand for data center capacity, with Oracle carving out a niche in AI-focused computing power. The company is serving clients like Elon Musk’s xAI and Meta. Oracle recently launched a joint venture called Stargate to supply OpenAI with significant computing power.
To meet the growing demand, Oracle’s capital expenditures tripled to $21.2 billion for the year ended May 31, with plans to rise to $25 billion this year. Ellison explained, “The reason demand continues to outstrip supply is we can only build these data centers, build these computers, so fast.”
Analyst Brent Thill noted that Catz’s long-term outlook, hinting at revenue acceleration, was the “exceptional” part of Oracle’s report, potentially driven by Stargate and OpenAI collaborations.
Ellison’s wealth surged by over $20 billion this week, fueled by Oracle’s record-high stock price. Bezos had held the No. 2 position on the world’s richest list for nearly eight years, with Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg briefly occupying it at times.
