At 81, Marrying a Woman 47 Years Younger: How Larry Ellison Defied Age to Become the World's Richest Billionaire

On September 10, 2025, Larry Ellison claimed the throne. At 81 years old, the Oracle founder and majority shareholder surpassed Elon Musk to become the world’s richest person, with his wealth reaching a staggering $393 billion—a $100 billion leap in a single day. But the more striking headline isn’t just his fortune: it’s how an 81-year-old man defies conventional expectations at every turn, from his boardroom decisions to his personal life, where he quietly married Jolin Zhu, a Chinese-American woman 47 years his junior, in 2024.

For most people, 81 is a time to retire and settle into predictability. For Ellison, it’s been the opposite.

A Rebel’s Ascent: From Orphan to Tech Titan

Larry Ellison’s journey reads like a Silicon Valley origin myth with teeth. Born in 1944 to an unmarried teenage mother in the Bronx, he was placed for adoption at nine months with his aunt’s family in Chicago. His adoptive father worked as a government clerk; money was always tight. Ellison attended the University of Illinois but dropped out when his adoptive mother died. He tried the University of Chicago next—lasted one semester.

The pattern was clear: Ellison never fit the mold. After dropping out, he drifted across America taking programming gigs until he landed in Berkeley, California, drawn by its countercultural energy and emerging tech scene. In the early 1970s, a programming position at Ampex Corporation changed everything. There, he worked on a classified project for the CIA to build a database system—code-named “Oracle.”

The idea stuck with him. In 1977, at 32, Ellison and two colleagues invested $2,000 (he put in $1,200) to found Software Development Laboratories (SDL), later renamed Oracle. While others saw databases as niche infrastructure, Ellison saw a $100 billion market waiting to be built. Oracle went public in 1986 and became an enterprise software juggernaut.

For four decades, Ellison held nearly every executive role in his company. He was president until 1996, chairman multiple times, and stepped down as CEO in 2014—but never truly left, remaining Executive Chairman and Chief Technology Officer today.

The AI Windfall: Late to the Party, But Winning

Here’s the plot twist nobody expected: a company built on database technology in the 1980s became the dark horse of the AI boom in 2025.

In September 2025, Oracle announced a five-year, $300 billion partnership with OpenAI, along with hundreds of billions in new contracts. The stock market erupted—a 40% single-day surge, the biggest jump since 1992. While Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure dominated early cloud computing, Oracle quietly held an advantage: decades of enterprise customer relationships and unmatched database infrastructure.

The company adapted ruthlessly. In summer 2025, Oracle laid off thousands of employees from legacy hardware and software divisions while pouring billions into data centers and AI infrastructure. The bet paid off spectacularly. Oracle transformed from a “traditional software vendor” into what analysts now call an “AI infrastructure dark horse”—a position that sent Ellison’s wealth through the roof and proved the old tech guard still has moves.

The Contradictions of a Prodigal: Discipline Meets Extravagance

At 81, Larry Ellison shouldn’t look this vital. Yet former executives describe him in the 1990s and 2000s spending hours daily exercising, drinking only water and green tea, maintaining a regimen most people can’t sustain at 40. He’s been called “20 years younger than his peers”—a testament to discipline most billionaires abandon.

Yet this same man owns 98% of Hawaii’s Lanai island, multiple California mansions, and some of the world’s finest yachts. He nearly died surfing in 1992. Instead of quitting, he pivoted to sailing and founded SailGP, a high-speed catamaran league now backed by celebrities like Anne Hathaway and footballer Mbappé. He revived the Indian Wells tennis tournament, calling it the “fifth Grand Slam.”

The contradictions run deeper into his personal life. Ellison has been married four times, and in 2024, the world learned he’d quietly married Jolin Zhu, a Chinese-American woman 47 years younger—born in Shenyang, China, and a University of Michigan graduate. The massive age gap became tabloid fodder, with some joking he loves surfing and dating equally. Yet this same man pledged in 2010 to give away 95% of his wealth.

Expanding the Empire: From Silicon Valley to Hollywood

Ellison’s wealth isn’t just personal legend—it’s now a family dynasty spanning technology and entertainment. His son, David Ellison, acquired Paramount Global (parent company of CBS and MTV) for $8 billion, with $6 billion coming from Ellison family funds. Two generations, two industries: the father conquered Silicon Valley; the son claimed Hollywood.

Beyond business, Ellison has become a political heavyweight, consistently backing Republican candidates. In 2015, he financed Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign; in 2022, he donated $15 million to Senator Tim Scott’s Super PAC. In January 2025, he appeared at the White House alongside SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and OpenAI’s Sam Altman to announce a $500 billion AI data center network—a move blending commerce with geopolitical influence.

Philanthropy on His Own Terms

In 2016, Ellison donated $200 million to USC to establish a cancer research center. More recently, he committed funds to the Ellison Institute of Technology, a joint Oxford University venture researching healthcare, food, and clean energy. But unlike Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, Ellison rarely joins the philanthropic chorus. As The New York Times noted, he “cherishes solitude and refuses to be influenced by outside ideas,” designing his giving around personal conviction rather than collective agendas.

The Unfinished Story

At 81, Larry Ellison achieved what he’d been chasing since a CIA project in the 1970s: absolute dominance. He built a database empire, navigated tech’s seismic shifts, positioned himself in AI’s explosive growth, and accumulated a $393 billion fortune. He married a woman 47 years younger. He sails, plays tennis, and outworks men half his age through relentless discipline.

He’s not done. Neither is his legacy. In an era where AI is reshaping enterprise software, Ellison—the prodigal son of Silicon Valley—proved that the older generation of tech titans remains far from finished. The title of world’s richest may change hands again, but for now, the 81-year-old who refused to retire is writing the next chapter of his empire, one data center at a time.