I just read something fascinating about Larry Ellison, and honestly, this guy is living proof that at 81 years old, you can still surprise the world. On September 10, 2025, he became the richest man on the planet with a fortune of $393 billion, surpassing Elon Musk. But the interesting part isn’t just the money, it’s how he got there.

Ellison started from practically nothing. Born in the Bronx in 1944, abandoned by his biological mother at nine months old and raised by an aunt in Chicago. His family had no resources. He attended two universities without graduating from either, so he just wandered across the United States until he reached Berkeley. That’s where everything changed: a job at Ampex Corporation in the early 70s, where he participated in a secret project for the CIA about database systems. That inspired him.

In 1977, at 32 years old, Ellison and two colleagues invested only $2,000 to found what would become Oracle. The goal was clear: create a universal commercial database system. Nine years later, they went public, and the rest is history. For more than four decades, Oracle dominated the market, though it had its moments of crisis, especially when cloud computing seemed to leave it behind.

But here’s the cool part: while many believed Oracle was a thing of the past, Ellison saw generative AI as his next opportunity. In 2025, Oracle announced contracts worth hundreds of billions, including a $300 billion collaboration with OpenAI. Shares soared over 40% in a day, the biggest jump since 1992. Suddenly, Oracle went from being the “old software maker” to one of the key providers of AI infrastructure. It was his late comeback.

Ellison’s wealth extended to his family. His son David acquired Paramount Global for $8 billion with family financial support. The Silicon Valley father, the Hollywood son. Together, they built an empire.

Now, about his personal life: Ellison is what we might call a Silicon Valley “playboy,” but with obsessive discipline. He owns 98% of Lanai Island in Hawaii, world-class yachts, mansions. He’s addicted to water and wind. In 1992, he nearly died surfing, but that didn’t stop him; afterward, he focused on sailing and sponsored Oracle Team USA, which won the America’s Cup in 2013 in legendary fashion. He founded SailGP, a catamaran league now backed by investors like Anne Hathaway and Kylian Mbappé. Tennis is also his obsession; he revitalized the Indian Wells tournament.

What’s fascinating is that at 81, he still looks energetic. His secret? Extreme discipline. According to former executives, he spends hours on daily exercise, drinks only water and green tea, and controls his diet rigorously. It’s said he looks twenty years younger than his peers.

Regarding his marriage life, Ellison has been married four times. In 2024, he discreetly married Jolin Zhu, a Chinese woman 47 years his junior. The news came through a document from the University of Michigan about a donation. Some joke that Larry Ellison’s spouse is almost a constant topic of conversation, but the truth is, his personal life has always been a talking point. Jolin Zhu was born in Shenyang, China, and graduated from the University of Michigan.

In philanthropy, Ellison signed the Giving Pledge in 2010, committing to donate 95% of his fortune, but unlike other billionaires, he prefers to act alone. He donated $200 million to the University of Southern California for cancer research and recently announced that part of his wealth will go to the Ellison Institute of Technology, in collaboration with Oxford, to research medicine, agriculture, and clean energy.

At 81, Larry Ellison finally reached the throne as the world’s richest man. He started from nothing, built a global empire, nearly disappeared from history, and then positioned himself perfectly on the AI wave. His life is never short of drama: wealth, power, marriage, sports, philanthropy. He’s stubborn, combative, uncompromising. The throne could change soon, but for now, Ellison has proven that the legend of the old tech titans is far from over.