How an 81-Year-Old Built an Empire: Larry Ellison's Path to Becoming the World's Richest Man

On September 10, 2025, something remarkable happened in the billionaire rankings. Larry Ellison, the 81-year-old co-founder of Oracle, officially surpassed Elon Musk to become the world’s richest person. His net worth hit $393 billion after a single-day wealth surge exceeding $100 billion, sending Oracle’s stock price soaring 40%—its largest daily gain since 1992. The catalyst? A groundbreaking $300 billion, five-year partnership with OpenAI announced that same quarter.

From Hardship to Silicon Valley Pioneer

Ellison’s origin story reads like a script for a Hollywood drama. Born in 1944 to an unmarried 19-year-old mother in the Bronx, he was adopted at nine months by a middle-class Chicago family. His adoptive father worked as a government employee, and finances were tight. College dropout after college dropout—University of Illinois, University of Chicago—Ellison seemed destined for mediocrity. He bounced between programming gigs until landing at Ampex Corporation in the early 1970s, where everything changed.

At Ampex, Ellison participated in a classified project for the CIA: building a database management system. The project’s codename was “Oracle.” That experience became his blueprint for fortune. In 1977, Ellison pooled $1,200 with colleagues Bob Miner and Ed Oates to launch Software Development Laboratories (SDL), later renamed Oracle. While Ellison wasn’t the inventor of database technology, he was the first to recognize its commercial potential and exploit it ruthlessly. Oracle went public in 1986 and dominated enterprise software for decades.

The Delayed Victory: AI Infrastructure and the $300 Billion Bet

For years, Oracle stumbled in cloud computing, trailing Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure. But the company’s database expertise proved invaluable when generative AI arrived. In summer 2025, Oracle announced major layoffs while simultaneously ramping up data center and AI infrastructure investments. The market instantly revalued the company: no longer a “legacy software vendor,” but a “dark horse in AI infrastructure.”

The OpenAI partnership represents more than commerce. It’s validation that Oracle’s deep enterprise relationships and technical infrastructure remain critical to powering the next computing era. Within hours of the announcement, Ellison’s wealth exploded.

The Billionaire’s Lifestyle: Discipline Meets Indulgence

Ellison embodies a paradox: ascetic discipline wrapped in extraordinary luxury. He owns 98% of Hawaii’s Lanai island, multiple California estates, and some of the world’s most exclusive yachts. Water and wind obsess him—despite nearly drowning in a 1992 surfing accident, he shifted focus to sailing, backing Oracle Team USA’s legendary 2013 America’s Cup comeback. In 2018, he founded SailGP, a high-speed catamaran league now backed by celebrity investors like Anne Hathaway.

Colleagues report that even in his sixties and seventies, Ellison maintained a spartan regimen: hours of daily exercise, water and green tea only, zero processed sugars. At 81, he looks two decades younger than peers, a testament to obsessive self-discipline.

Family Expansion: From Tech Mogul to Media Dynasty

The Ellison empire now spans industries. His son David recently acquired Paramount Global for $8 billion (with $6 billion from family funds), signaling expansion into Hollywood. Meanwhile, Larry continues reshaping enterprise technology. Two generations, two industries, one wealth dynasty.

In 2024, Ellison married Jolin Zhu, a Chinese-American woman 47 years his junior and University of Michigan graduate. The discovery came via a university fundraising announcement naming “Larry Ellison and his wife, Jolin” as donors—drawing public attention to his fifth marriage and personal life. Social media erupted with jokes: “Ellison surfs waves and dates women half his age with equal enthusiasm.”

Political Influence and AI Ambitions

Ellison doesn’t confine his power to corporate boardrooms. He’s a Republican donor of considerable weight: $15 million to Tim Scott’s 2022 Super PAC, earlier support for Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign. In January 2025, he appeared at the White House with SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and OpenAI’s Sam Altman to announce a $500 billion AI data center network—a venture placing Oracle at the infrastructure core. Commerce and political proximity increasingly overlap.

Philanthropy on His Terms

In 2010, Ellison signed the Giving Pledge, promising to donate 95% of his wealth. Unlike Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, he operates alone. “I cherish my solitude and refuse outside influence,” he told The New York Times. His donations reflect personal obsessions: $200 million to USC for cancer research (2016), ongoing support for the Ellison Institute of Technology (with Oxford University) to tackle healthcare, food security, and climate change.

The Prodigal Son’s Final Act

At 81, Larry Ellison achieved the billionaire ranking he perhaps never obsessed over—but then again, obsession defines him. From a CIA database project to commanding the AI infrastructure wave, from five marriages to spanning continents, his life resists simple narratives.

The world’s richest title may yet change hands. But Ellison’s presence at the convergence of enterprise technology, AI infrastructure, and geopolitical power suggests the older generation of tech titans remains far from finished. His spouse now watches from the sidelines as a tech legend enters a new chapter. The contradictions that defined his journey—discipline and adventure, solitude and prominence, bankruptcy and billions—show no signs of resolving. For Ellison, that’s precisely the point.