Larry Ellison, the 79-year-old co-founder and CTO of Oracle, has just overtaken Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg to become the second-richest person in the world, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The shift in rankings comes after Oracle stock surged following a series of aggressive moves into artificial intelligence infrastructure and cloud computing.
With a net worth now estimated at $174 billion, Ellison sits just behind Elon Musk, who remains the world’s wealthiest individual. Zuckerberg, once firmly in second place, now trails closely with an estimated net worth of $169 billion after Meta’s recent stock pullback.
Oracle’s AI Momentum
The wealth jump comes as Oracle cements itself as a surprising winner in the AI infrastructure arms race. Once considered a legacy software firm, Oracle has repositioned itself as a serious contender in the cloud and AI ecosystem, thanks in part to massive contracts with government agencies and enterprise clients.
The company’s recent earnings revealed double-digit growth in cloud revenue and expanding partnerships with generative AI companies. Oracle also announced plans to build new AI supercomputing centers around the globe, supported by strategic deals with Nvidia and Cohere.
“This AI shift is not hype, it’s a full-blown transformation of how data is processed,” Ellison said during a recent earnings call. “We’re building the backbone for what comes next.”
Larry Ellison Surpasses Mark Zuckerberg – But Why Now?
The rise in Ellison’s net worth reflects Wall Street’s renewed confidence in Oracle’s long-term growth, particularly its infrastructure services. Analysts point to Ellison’s decades-long focus on vertical integration and enterprise loyalty, which have become key assets in the new AI era.
In contrast, Meta’s AI efforts, while headline-grabbing, have faced increasing regulatory scrutiny and monetization delays, contributing to a slight market cool-down. Zuckerberg’s pivot toward AI assistants and “Meta LLMs” has yet to match the business impact of Oracle’s data center and cloud expansion.
This moment is symbolic: while Zuckerberg represents the social web of the past two decades, Ellison’s comeback is a reminder that deep enterprise infrastructure may define the next.
From Yacht Deck to Data Center Dominance
Ellison’s public persona – complete with luxury yachts, Hawaiian estates, and bold public comments, has often overshadowed his strategy. But insiders note that he’s never really stepped away. While no longer CEO, he remains Oracle’s Chief Technology Officer and chairman, directly shaping product direction and major investments.
Oracle’s $28 billion acquisition of Cerner, a healthcare IT firm, also now looks increasingly wise, as it positions the company at the intersection of health data and AI-powered diagnostics.
“Larry’s not chasing the spotlight,” one former Oracle exec told Millionaire MNL. “He’s chasing scale, and he’s doing it in places where competitors underestimated the complexity.”
What’s Next for the Billionaire Rankings?
With tech stocks swinging wildly, the order of the richest tech titans remains volatile. Elon Musk still holds the crown at over $230 billion, fueled by Tesla and SpaceX. But with Oracle now growing faster than Meta in certain key verticals, Ellison may maintain his position longer than skeptics expected.
As Oracle’s AI infrastructure bets continue to mature, some analysts believe Ellison could edge even closer to Musk, especially if Meta hits more regulatory turbulence or shifts focus to long-term AI R&D over near-term profit.
As seen in Millionaire MNL, the new billionaire leaderboard tells a deeper story: AI isn’t just creating new companies. It’s redefining the fortunes of tech’s original titans.
