Larry Ellison Surpasses Elon Musk As World's Richest Person

(RTTNews) - Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison briefly overtook Elon Musk as the world's richest person on Wednesday, after a record-breaking rally in Oracle's shares sent his fortune soaring, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Ellison's wealth climbed to $393 billion after Oracle stock surged more than 40 percent on investor optimism around its booming cloud infrastructure business and a wave of artificial intelligence deals. The one-day gain, the largest ever recorded by Bloomberg's wealth index, temporarily pushed Ellison ahead of Musk, whose net worth stood at $385 billion. By the end of the day, some of Oracle's gains had eased, returning Musk to the top spot.

The surge followed Oracle's quarterly earnings report, where CEO Safra Catz revealed the company had signed four multibillion-dollar contracts and projected cloud revenue would jump 77 percent this year to $18 billion. Oracle's $455 billion AI backlog and partnerships with firms like OpenAI have cemented its role as a key player in powering AI's massive computing needs.

The rally lifted Oracle's market capitalization by $244 billion in a single day, making it the 10th most valuable U.S. company, ahead of Walmart, JPMorgan, and Eli Lilly. Analysts at Citi and Bank of America upgraded the stock to "buy," underscoring its rapid ascent as an AI infrastructure powerhouse.

Ellison, 81, has deep political ties, most notably to President Donald Trump, and has recently explored high-profile media and tech ventures, including potential bids for TikTok and Paramount. Musk, meanwhile, continues to face headwinds as Tesla shares slide 14 percent this year amid investor concerns and political controversies.

The brief handover highlights how the AI boom is rapidly reshaping fortunes and the balance of power among the world's tech titans.