Oracle founder Larry Ellison, at 80, has surpassed Mark Zuckerberg to become the world’s second-richest person, with a net worth climbing to $251 billion following Oracle’s strong earnings and strategic investments in AI infrastructure.
At the age of 80, Larry Ellison has surpassed Mark Zuckerberg, becoming the world’s second-richest person. Ellison’s net worth now sits at $251 billion, bolstered by a dramatic increase of nearly $60 billion in 2025 alone, as reported by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Ellison’s financial ascent is largely attributed to his substantial 40% stake in Oracle, the database company he founded in 1977. Oracle’s value has surged by 41% so far this year, with substantial gains seen in recent weeks.
The soaring stock value comes amid a favorable market landscape for artificial intelligence investments, a sector in which Ellison has been heavily involved. The tech industry has benefited from policies under Trump’s second presidency that favor AI stocks. For instance, Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang, similar to Ellison, has seen significant growth in wealth, partially due to the government’s approval for his company to ship advanced microchips to China.
Ellison prominently aligned himself with President Trump during the unveiling of Stargate, a major initiative aimed at strengthening the U.S. position in AI development. This ambitious project plans to invest $500 billion into AI infrastructure over the coming four years, with Oracle, SoftBank, OpenAI, and MGX serving as initial equity founders. Oracle and OpenAI are also pivotal technology collaborators alongside companies like Arm, Microsoft, and Nvidia.
Recent increases in Oracle’s value are linked to the company’s robust performance and heightened commitment to AI investments. Oracle recently announced impressive year-end results, reporting Q4 revenues of $15.9 billion, marking an 11% increase, while remaining performance obligations rose by 41% to $138 billion.
Continuing its AI focus, Oracle has committed an additional $3 billion to expand cloud services and AI infrastructure in Germany and the Netherlands. Despite the positive investor response to Oracle’s moves, some analysts urge caution regarding future projections for the company.
A report from Goldman Sachs following Oracle’s fiscal results adopted a ‘neutral’ stance, with analysts noting Oracle’s strong Oracle Cloud Infrastructure demand momentum. Nonetheless, they warned of potential risks, suggesting that the company might overcommit to low-margin, capital-intensive training cycles that could impact its future free cash flow generation.