I just found out that something interesting happened in the billionaire market early last fall — Larry Ellison, at 81 years old, became the richest person in the world. Not through a smooth transition, but a dramatic jump of over $100 billion in one day. Oracle's stock soared more than 40% — the biggest jump since 1992. All because of contracts worth hundreds of billions, including a five-year deal with OpenAI for $300 billion.

Interestingly, this was exactly the moment when Larry Ellison showed how to make a "late comeback" into a new era. Oracle had long lagged behind Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure in cloud computing, but when AI started taking over the world, the company suddenly found itself in the right place. Data centers, AI infrastructure, corporate clients — all of this gave it a unique position that competitors couldn't easily copy.

From a poor orphan from the Bronx to a Silicon Valley magnate — this is not an ordinary story. Ellison grew up in Chicago, dropped out of college, traveled across the U.S. until he ended up in California in the early 1970s. There, he worked as a programmer at Ampex Corporation and participated in developing a database system for the CIA. This experience became the foundation for what later turned into Oracle — a company he founded in 1977 with two colleagues, investing just $2,000.

What’s interesting is that Larry Ellison was never a "creator" of database technology, but he was the first to see how to make money from it. He bet everything he had on this market and won. The company went public on Nasdaq in 1986 and became a new star. Over forty years, Oracle has experienced ups and downs, but Ellison remained its soul — president, chairman, CEO, and then just an invisible hand guiding everything.

In his personal life, he lives just as intensely. Five marriages, the latest in 2024 with Chinese Jolin Zhu, who is 47 years younger. Owns 98% of Lana’i Island in Hawaii, several luxurious estates in Гаваях, and the império of his business empire. But most importantly — he’s not just rich, he’s active. Surfing, sailing, tennis — at 81, he looks younger than his peers. Users joke that Larry Ellison loves waves as much as falling in love.

And the most interesting part is that this is far from the end of the story. In January this year, Ellison appeared at the White House with the CEO of SoftBank and the CEO of OpenAI, announcing a network of AI-дата-центри worth $500 billion. His son David recently bought Paramount Global for $8 billion. The father controls the technology industry, the son — Голлівуд. Together, they are building an império that covers everything.

Ellison’s philanthropy is also unique — he signed The Giving Pledge, promising to give away at least 95% of his wealth, but he does it his way, without colleagues, according to his own vision. He donated to the University of Southern California for cancer research, and the Ellison Institute of Technology with Оксфорд for work in medicine and climate.

Right now, Larry Ellison is at the top, but this is not the last chapter of his story. At 81, he proved that in the AI era, the legends of the old guard of tech giants are far from finished playing. Stubborn, combative, unwavering — that’s what makes him one of the most fascinating figures in the world of technology.