Larry Ellison Surpasses Elon Musk as World's Richest Man After Oracle's Historic $101 Billion Surge

Oracle Corporation founder and chairman Larry Ellison has finally overtaken Elon Musk to become the richest individual in the world. This dramatic flip of global wealth on its head was triggered by a record-breaking $101 billion surge in Ellison's net worth, after Oracle reported a blowout quarter, crushing forecasts, and Oracle's optimistic forecast for its cloud infrastructure segment.

Oracle stocks jumped over 40% after reporting a $450 billion-plus backlog in cloud services, fueled by big contracts with AI titans like Nvidia and OpenAI. The company expects the backlog to hit over half a trillion dollars within a few months, marking unprecedented growth in the AI-dependent tech sector.

Ellison's fortune now stands at around $393 billion, slightly ahead of Musk's $385 billion. Musk, the richest man for over 300 days, has seen Tesla stocks lose 13% this year. However, Musk remains a contender for future wealth milestones, as a proposed pay package stands to make him the world's first trillionaire.

At the same time, Bill Gates fell to 14th position on the Forbes richest list, which is his lowest position in more than three decades. Gates intends to give 99% of his wealth to his foundation that will wind down by 2045.

Ellison's rise follows the mounting stranglehold that cloud computing and artificial intelligence are gaining on fortunes globally. His family's recent acquisition of Paramount Global for a record $8 billion only further expands their reach across technology and media.