Elon Musk temporarily loses world’s richest crown to Oracle’s Larry Ellison

Elon Musk briefly ceded his spot as the world’s richest person to Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison on Wednesday, after a stunning surge in Oracle’s share price reshaped the global wealth rankings.

Oracle’s stock soared 36% in New York—the company’s strongest single-day rally since 1992—adding $244 billion to its market value and lifting it to about $933 billion. The rally pushed Ellison’s fortune up by an unprecedented $101 billion to $393 billion, eclipsing Musk’s $385 billion net worth and putting him, for the first time, at the top of Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.

AI Optimism Sparks Record Rally

The windfall followed Oracle’s fiscal first-quarter earnings release. While results came in just shy of Wall Street expectations—$1.47 per share against an estimated $1.48, with $14.9 billion in revenue versus the $15 billion forecast—the real driver was the company’s bold projections for its AI-powered cloud business.

Oracle unveiled revenue targets of $32 billion, $73 billion, $114 billion and $144 billion over the next four years, sparking investor confidence that the firm could become a central player in the AI cloud infrastructure race.

“We’re all kind of in shock, in a very good way,” a Deutsche Bank analyst remarked as Oracle’s stock jumped 28% in after-hours trading.

A Short-Lived Lead

Ellison’s brief reign at the top was propelled by his 1.16 billion Oracle shares, roughly 41% of the company. That massive stake meant the rally translated almost directly into his personal fortune.

But as markets stabilised later in the session, Musk reclaimed his lead, ending Ellison’s historic but fleeting tenure as the world’s wealthiest individual. Musk had held the top spot for nearly a year, buoyed by Tesla’s performance and his other ventures.

The Fragility of Billionaire Rankings

The episode underscores the volatility of modern wealth rankings, where fortunes can swing wildly on market sentiment—especially in the tech sector. Both Musk and Ellison’s net worth is tightly bound to investor confidence in emerging technologies: electric vehicles in Tesla’s case, and artificial intelligence for Oracle.

The shifting fortunes also highlight how AI has become the latest catalyst driving markets and reshaping global power among technology titans.