The college dropout who just became the world’s richest person

4 days ago 8

By Diana Li, Brody Ford and Anders Melin

September 11, 2025 — 11.26am

Larry Ellison dropped out of college before co-founding what eventually grew into one of the world’s biggest technology companies: Oracle. The fortune he amassed propelled him to the ranks of the uber-rich.

In July, he eclipsed Mark Zuckerberg to become the world’s second-wealthiest person, and overnight, he overtook Elon Musk for the number-one spot – though the Tesla chief reclaimed the ranking by the close of trade on Wall Street.

With two partners, Ellison founded in 1977 what eventually became Oracle.

Ellison’s success has been accompanied by a well-documented history of lavish living. That lifestyle – which includes megayachts, private planes, trophy properties and the purchase of a Hawaiian island – sometimes brings about controversies.

Here’s what you need to know about Ellison’s life and career.

Who is Larry Ellison, and how much is he worth?

Ellison is the co-founder and biggest shareholder of Oracle, a software giant that became famous for its namesake database, which underpins many of the world’s largest corporate operations. More recently, the company has found success in the competitive market for cloud computing infrastructure, which is dominated by rivals such as Amazon.

Ellison, 81, owns more than 40 per cent of Oracle which is based in Austin, Texas, and which constitutes the majority of his wealth. He also owns a stake in Musk’s electric-vehicle maker Tesla, a sailing team, the Indian Wells tennis event, and real estate, including Hawaii’s Lanai island.

Ellison’s wealth soared $US89 billion ($135 billion) after Oracle reported quarterly results that surpassed analysts’ expectations and said there was more growth to come.

The increase lifted his total net worth to $US383.2 billion. It’s the biggest one-day increase ever recorded, and put him ahead of Musk for much of the day before the Tesla CEO edged back into pole position by $US1 billion.

How did Ellison make his fortune on Oracle?

Raised on the south side of Chicago after being adopted by his mother’s aunt and uncle when he was nine months old, Ellison dropped out of both the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago and moved to Berkeley, California, taking a computer programming job at Ampex, where he worked on a database called Oracle for the Central Intelligence Agency.

Ellison has also benefited from a close relationship with US President Donald Trump.

With two partners, Ellison founded in 1977 what eventually became Oracle. The company sold shares in an initial public offering on March 12, 1986, a day before Microsoft’s IPO. He stepped down as Oracle’s chief executive officer in September 2014, taking on the titles of chairman and chief technology officer.

Why is Oracle having a moment right now?

Oracle has invested billions of dollars over the past few years to become a provider of cloud infrastructure, offering computing power and storage over the internet. The firm has benefited from the enthusiasm for artificial intelligence as start-ups and other AI firms seek more capacity.

As of early September, Oracle’s share price had tripled since the public release of ChatGPT in November 2022. It hit an all-time high after market close in New York on September 9, as Oracle provided an aggressive outlook for its cloud business that surprised Wall Street and galvanised hopes that the global build-out of AI infrastructure is accelerating.

It was a win for a company that was already having a good year. In July, Oracle inked an unprecedented commitment with ChatGPT operator OpenAI for 4.5 gigawatts worth of data-centre capacity – enough energy to power millions of American homes. Oracle also counts companies such as Nvidia and ByteDance’s TikTok as major cloud customers. Taken together, this shows how Oracle is emerging as a key provider of such computing capacity, competing with cloud leaders Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google.

Ellison has also benefited from a close relationship with US President Donald Trump. Ellison has been a Trump supporter and Republican donor for years. Since Trump returned to office in January, he’s rewarded Ellison by elevating Oracle on multiple occasions.

Ellison and Oracle are part of a $US500 billion AI infrastructure project called Stargate that Trump first touted in January. Trump has expressed support for Oracle to acquire a partial stake in the US business of TikTok, which would give Oracle a share of one of the world’s most popular consumer products. Oracle’s bid for the popular video app owned by China’s ByteDance, which includes several other potential investors, has been endorsed by Trump, but hasn’t been approved by the Chinese government.

What other businesses does Ellison own?

He’s spent hundreds of millions of dollars on luxury real estate in the past decade, including properties in Malibu and Rancho Mirage in California; the Beechwood Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island; and an estate in the San Francisco Bay Area modelled on 16th century Japanese feudal architecture.

Ellison has been a major shareholder of Tesla and owned about 1.5 per cent of the company as of the carmaker’s 2022 proxy statement. He stepped down from Tesla’s board of directors in June that year, and his stake hasn’t been disclosed in subsequent filings. He was also one of the largest outside backers of Musk’s bid to purchase Twitter, which has since been renamed X.

What are Ellison’s interests outside of tech?

The software mogul has a history of lavish living. In a 2002 email to the tech founder, an accountant suggested that Ellison “budget and plan” because his spending habits were becoming difficult to sustain, according to a January 2006 San Francisco Chronicle article.

Ellison finances his lifestyle using debt and the proceeds from Oracle stock sales and dividends, which have amounted to more than $US12 billion since 2003, according to an analysis of data compiled by Bloomberg.

He’s an avid sailor and partially financed the BMW Oracle Racing team, which won the America’s Cup in February 2010. He sold his stake in Rising Sun, a 138-metre megayacht, to billionaire David Geffen later that year. Ellison’s Oracle Team USA defended the America’s Cup in October 2013, defeating a team from New Zealand. He signed the Giving Pledge in 2010, promising to give away at least 95 per cent of his wealth to charitable causes.

How has Ellison been involved in Hawaii?

Ellison’s love for Hawaii, which began in his childhood, led to his $US300 million purchase of 98 per cent of the island of Lanai in 2012. There, he’s partnered with David Agus – a doctor who treated Ellison’s late best friend, Steve Jobs – to create Sensei, a chain of luxury wellness resorts focused on longevity. His personal connections have brought high-profile visitors including Musk, Hollywood actor Tom Cruise and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the once-sleepy island.

Ellison’s supporters have said his investments have helped revitalise Lanai but there have been complaints that the island has become more hospitable to the super-rich while squeezing out families that have lived there for generations.

Bloomberg