Larry Ellison Overtakes Elon Musk as Oracle Stock Rockets 42% After Blockbuster Quarter

Larry Ellison climbed to the top of the global wealth rankings after Oracle’s shares surged as much as 42% following a blockbuster earnings report, pushing his estimated net worth to about $393 billion and briefly surpassing Elon Musk.

Oracle said it signed four multibillion‑dollar contracts in the latest quarter and that executives expect to add several more in the coming months whose combined value the company indicated would exceed $500 billion. CEO Safra Catz told investors the company has a large backlog for AI services and projected steep revenue growth for its cloud business.

The surge in Oracle shares sent Ellison’s wealth up about $101 billion to roughly $393 billion, while Musk’s net worth was estimated at about $385 billion. Trading volume in Oracle jumped more than 77 million shares by midday, and the stock’s gain was on pace to be its biggest single‑day increase since 1992.

Executives said Oracle’s cloud business would generate about $18 billion in revenue this year, a 77% year‑over‑year increase, and projected the cloud business would expand to $32 billion, $73 billion, $114 billion and $144 billion over the following four years. Catz said the company expects the influx of large customers and lucrative contracts to produce cash flow for years: "Over the next few months, we expect to sign‑up several additional multi‑billion‑dollar customers," she said.

Analysts described Oracle’s reported $455 billion backlog for AI services as "staggering," and company officials pointed to deals with major cloud and technology firms as evidence of sustained demand. Oracle executives also said the company’s infrastructure underpins leading AI models, naming ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Grok. Media reports said Oracle had negotiated a multiyear deal with OpenAI that could be worth as much as $300 billion, but Oracle did not provide detailed public disclosure of that specific figure in its earnings materials.

Ellison, 81, co‑founded Oracle in 1977. He remains the company’s largest individual shareholder, owning more than 40% of its stock, a stake that magnified the impact of Wednesday’s price move on his personal wealth. Ellison’s holdings also include the vast majority of the Hawaiian island of Lana‘i and other investments spanning technology and sports, which have kept him prominent in business and social circles.

The market move that propelled Ellison past Musk reflects both Oracle’s earnings surprise and continuing volatility in the fortunes of other top billionaires. Musk’s wealth is closely tied to Tesla, whose shares have swung this year; they are down nearly 7% since January but up roughly 59% since March, contributing to frequent shifts in real‑time wealth rankings.

Oracle’s executives emphasized that many of the company’s multibillion‑dollar agreements are for cloud data services, which the company said generate recurring revenue with relatively low incremental costs. Company materials asserted that the structure of those agreements and multiyear commitments would add cash to Oracle’s balance sheet through 2030.

Investors and analysts will be watching upcoming quarters for signs that the sales momentum can be sustained, and for more detail on the composition and duration of the large contracts Oracle reported. For now, the earnings report and the resulting stock surge have vaulted the database and cloud software company’s founder to the peak of wealth rankings, underscoring how quickly market moves and corporate deals can reshape the list of the world’s richest individuals.