Larry Ellison lost his title of the world's richest person last year - but has just gained a chunk of money back

MW Larry Ellison lost his title of the world's richest person last year - but has just gained a chunk of money back

By Barbara Kollmeyer

Oracle shares closed at their highest since Jan. 30 on Wednesday

Wednesday marked a boon day for Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, whose net wealth surged by $14 billion as the software group's shares soared after earnings.

Oracle's stock $(ORCL)$ rose 9.18% to $163.12 per share on Wednesday, the highest close since Jan. 30. That one-day percentage gain is the best since a 9.6% rise on Feb. 2, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Shares remain roughly 50% below an all-time high reached on Sept. 10, 2025 - a rally that briefly made Ellison the world's wealthiest man. That day, the company became the first worth over $500 billion to gain more than 25% in a single day as it wowed Wall Street with talk of several multibillion-dollar contracts.

Wednesday's stock jump followed results showing solid revenue and an earnings beat, thanks to AI demand, as Oracle also said it wouldn't need more financing to support those ambitions.

Read: Oracle's stock surges. Here's how it finally left the AI penalty box.

Ellison saw a one-day $14.6 billion wealth gain, which was the biggest by far among his 500 peers, according to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index. With a net worth of $214 billion, he's the world's sixth-richest person, behind several tech rivals that include Meta Platforms' (META) Mark Zuckerberg. His wealth peaked last September at around $388 billion, according to Bloomberg.

The rise and fall of Larry Ellison's wealth

Oracle shares have suffered this year as investors have grown wary that Big Tech's AI investments may not pay off. His wealth has declined by $32 billion this year, the second-biggest loss for any billionaire, just behind luxury goods boss Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (FR:MC), according to Bloomberg.

Ellison and his son David, CEO of Paramount Skydance $(PSKY)$, beat out Netflix $(NFLX)$ in a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery $(WBD)$, but the $111 billion price tag will be heavily financed by the senior Ellison, who has made a personal guarantee of $45.7 billion.

Forbes has argued that he doesn't have enough cash on hand for the deal as he's only unloaded $4.7 billion in Oracle shares this century. His Oracle stockholding is currently worth around $188 billion, according to FactSet.

-Barbara Kollmeyer

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March 12, 2026 08:43 ET (12:43 GMT)

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