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Elon Musk Dethroned as the World Richest Person
Larry Ellison Overtakes Elon Musk as World Richest Person
Move over, Elon Musk. There’s a new sheriff in town. Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison has officially overtaken Musk to claim the crown of world’s richest person, after a mind-blowing surge in Oracle’s stock price tied to the company’s booming role in artificial intelligence.
According to Bloomberg, Ellison’s wealth skyrocketed by a staggering $101 billion in a single day, bringing his net worth to $393 billion. Musk, meanwhile, sits just behind at $385 billion. It’s a headline moment not just in the billionaire rankings but also in the larger story of how AI is rewriting the rules of business, wealth, and influence.
So, how did this happen? The catalyst was Oracle’s jaw-dropping earnings report. Shares of Oracle (ORCL) surged 41% on Wednesday, their biggest single-day leap since 1992. The company revealed it had signed four multibillion-dollar AI infrastructure contracts in just one quarter, with CEO Safra Catz promising more on the way.
Oracle is no longer just a database giant, it has reinvented itself as one of the key suppliers of AI cloud infrastructure, the backbone needed to fuel today’s most powerful artificial intelligence systems. The company even inked a deal earlier this year to provide 4.5 gigawatts of electricity to OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes described Oracle’s reported $455 billion backlog in AI service demand as nothing short of “staggering.” If the momentum holds, Oracle could soon join the elite trillion-dollar club, rubbing shoulders with tech titans like Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple.
Bloomberg called Ellison’s wealth spike the biggest one-day increase ever recorded on its Billionaires Index. That’s a rarefied feat, even in today’s tech-fueled economy. Think about it: Oracle was already among the 20 most valuable companies globally, worth nearly $700 billion at Tuesday’s close. Now, in the wake of this AI frenzy, it’s hurtling toward a trillion-dollar valuation, territory reserved for the world’s most transformative companies.
For Elon Musk, this isn’t his first time losing the “richest man alive” title. Since first capturing it in 2021, Musk has had brief handoffs with LVMH’s Bernard Arnault and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. But he has always managed to claw his way back thanks to Tesla’s growth and SpaceX’s dominance in private spaceflight. Musk, of course, still has plenty of cards up his sleeve. Tesla’s controversial pay package could eventually be worth close to $1 trillion if the automaker hits ambitious milestones, which could catapult him back into the top spot. For now, though, Musk will have to settle for being second best.
The Ellison Story: From College Dropout to Richest Person Alive
Ellison’s rise is the stuff of Silicon Valley legend. In 1977, after dropping out of college, he co-founded Oracle. Decades later, at 81 years old, he’s not only at the helm of a company powering the AI revolution, but also the owner of 98% of Hawaii’s Lana’i island, a tennis tournament patron, and one of the most influential figures in global tech.
His personal interests are as fascinating as his business empire. Known for his luxury lifestyle and political connections, especially his close ties to former President Donald Trump, Ellison has often been a power player behind the scenes in both technology and politics. There were even whispers of him pursuing TikTok, though those talks never materialized. Now, with Oracle’s AI-driven dominance, Ellison has cemented his place not just as a business pioneer but also as the new face of extreme wealth in the AI era.
Ellison’s meteoric rise is part of a larger reshuffling of global wealth tied directly to artificial intelligence. Nvidia, Microsoft, and now Oracle are redefining what it means to be a “software” company, these giants are increasingly viewed as AI infrastructure powerhouses.
As Reitzes put it, “Microsoft and Oracle really aren’t software companies anymore, they are AI cloud infrastructure stocks that happen to sell software too.” That perspective explains why Oracle’s stock has doubled this year alone, and why Ellison’s name now tops the billionaire leaderboard.
For years, Elon Musk has embodied the archetype of the eccentric, trailblazing billionaire. But as the AI boom explodes, the spotlight has shifted. Larry Ellison’s sudden rise to the world’s richest man underscores just how powerful the AI wave has become, and how fortunes can change overnight in this new era.
The takeaway? The world’s wealthiest are no longer defined just by cars, rockets, or luxury goods. They’re defined by who owns the infrastructure powering the AI-powered future.
And right now, that person is Larry Ellison.
