Elon Musk temporarily lost his spot as the world’s richest person on Wednesday after Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison’s fortune briefly surpassed his, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Ellison’s net worth surged to $393 billion (£290bn) after Oracle shares soared more than 40% on the back of stronger-than-expected growth in its cloud infrastructure business and a wave of artificial intelligence (AI) deals. Musk’s wealth slipped to $385 billion (£284bn), before Oracle’s share price eased later in the day, putting the Tesla CEO back on top.
Musk, who has held the number one position for nearly a year, faces headwinds as Tesla stock continues to slide. The electric vehicle maker has been hit by investor concerns over the Trump administration’s rollback of EV incentives and consumer backlash to Musk’s political involvement.
Ellison, 81, who co-founded Oracle in 1977, remains the firm’s chairman and chief technology officer. Oracle’s earnings report this week projected that cloud revenue would jump 77% this year to $18 billion, with further growth ahead. CEO Safra Catz highlighted four multibillion-dollar contracts signed last quarter, with more expected in coming months.
Ellison has also deepened his ties to politics and media. A close ally of President Donald Trump, he appeared with OpenAI’s Sam Altman and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son earlier this year to launch “Stargate,” a project to expand U.S. AI infrastructure. Oracle is also seen as a potential buyer of TikTok, which faces a U.S. ban unless it cuts ties with Chinese parent company ByteDance.
Beyond Oracle, Ellison has backed major media ventures, including financing most of his son David Ellison’s $8 billion takeover of Paramount, the parent company of CBS and MTV, in a deal completed last month.
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