- Larry Ellison is the world's biggest wealth gainer this year and may just be getting started.
- Oracle's stock soared 32% in Frankfurt on Wednesday after it projected big revenue growth.
- The one-day surge boosted the value of Ellison's 41% stake in Oracle by about $90 billion.
Larry Ellison has made more money than anyone else this year — and he's only getting richer as Oracle's stock surges.
The enterprise-software giant's cofounder was the world's second-wealthiest person with a $295 billion fortune at Tuesday's close, behind only Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his $384 billion net worth, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Ellison, 81, is the rich list's biggest gainer this year, having gained $103 billion since January. That figure exceeds Starbucks' entire market value of $95 billion. Oracle stock has soared 45% this year as of Tuesday's close, fueled by intense excitement about AI.
The Oracle chairman's net worth has more than tripled in under three years, from about $80 billion in October 2022, as the cloud-computing titan's shares have gone from below $70 to over $240 at Tuesday's close.
Oracle shares surged in after-hours trading on Tuesday, as investors cheered a phenomenal revenue growth forecast, underpinned by AI demand, in an earnings report after the bell in New York, where the company has its primary listing.
Before US markets opened on Wednesday, the shares were trading 32% higher in Frankfurt, where Oracle also has a secondary listing. The same shares trade there but typically at lower volumes. They were trading 33% higher on the New York Stock Exchange at 7.30 a.m. ET.
"We expect Oracle Cloud Infrastructure revenue to grow 77% to $18 billion this fiscal year — and then increase to $32 billion, $73 billion, $114 billion, and $144 billion over the subsequent four years," Oracle CEO Safra Catz said in the company's earnings first-quarter report. Oracle's total revenue was about $57 billion last financial year.
The 32% stock jump boosted the value of Ellison's stake in Oracle by roughly $90 billion to around $370 billion. The one-day increase is around the same as Moody's $91 billion market value.
Bloomberg has a significantly lower estimate of Ellison's wealth because he's pledged about a quarter of his Oracle shares as collateral for personal loans. The rich list deducts half of those pledged shares from his share count to calculate his net worth.
Ellison also bought about 1.6% of Tesla before he joined its board in December 2018, a position that would be worth over $15 billion today. However, he stepped down in 2022 and no longer has to disclose his stake.
