Do you remember the news from September of last year? 81-year-old Larry Ellison became the richest person on the planet in a single day. His fortune skyrocketed by a hundred billion, and he displaced Musk from the throne. It sounds like a movie script, but it actually happened. And honestly, this person's story is even wilder than the fact itself.

Larry Ellison is a co-founder of Oracle, and his path there was far from easy. Born in the Bronx in 1944, but his parents couldn't raise him. At nine months old, he was sent to live with his aunt in Chicago. Grew up in poverty; his father was a regular government employee. He enrolled in university but dropped out after his adoptive mother died. Re-enrolled — and left again. Then he simply traveled across the U.S., working as a programmer.

The turning point came in the early 70s when Ellison joined Ampex. There, he participated in a project for the CIA — developing a database management system. The project was called Oracle. And in 1977, Larry Ellison, along with two colleagues, invested his $1,200 (out of a total of $2,000) into Software Development Laboratories. They decided to commercialize what they had been doing for intelligence agencies. They named the company Oracle.

Next came the classic story of a startup that became a giant. Oracle went public on NASDAQ in 1986 and became a star in enterprise software. Ellison managed the company his entire life, serving as president, then chairman. Even when he nearly drowned surfing in 1992, he returned and continued. A stubborn guy. Oracle experienced ups and downs, lagged in cloud computing, but always remained a key player in enterprise software.

And then came the moment that changed everything. In September 2025, Oracle announced contracts worth trillions of dollars, including $300 billion for collaboration with OpenAI. Shares soared 40% in a day — the highest since 1992. And it became clear: Larry Ellison and his company caught the AI wave. That summer, Oracle began mass layoffs in traditional divisions but simultaneously invested everything into AI infrastructure. From a traditional software company, it transformed into a provider of hardware for generative AI.

As a result, Ellison’s fortune reached $393 billion. Musk remained at $385 billion. And now, the 81-year-old is the richest person in the world. His son David bought Paramount for $8 billion (with $6 billion from the family). Father in Silicon Valley, son in Hollywood — two empires, two spheres of influence.

Politically, Ellison is also active. He funds Republicans, met with the administration about a mega-data center project worth $500 billion. It’s not just business — it’s an expansion of power.

And what about his personal life? That’s also interesting. Larry Ellison is obsessed with water and wind. Surfs, sails, invests in SailGP. Restored the tennis tournament in Indian Wells. Sports are his secret to youth. People say he looks twenty years younger. He eats strictly, almost doesn’t drink sweets, prefers water and green tea. And yes, he married in 2024 a Chinese woman named Jolie, who is 47 years younger than him. His fifth marriage. People joke that Ellison loves waves and romance equally.

His charity work is peculiar. He signed a vow to give away 95% of his wealth, but does it his own way, not like Gates or Buffett. Donated $200 million to cancer research, now creating an institute with Oxford to study medicine, food, and climate. He wants new medicines, affordable agriculture, clean energy.

In general, Larry Ellison’s story is about how an orphan from the Bronx became a magnate, how the old guard of technology adapted to the AI era, and how an 81-year-old proved that legends are not over yet. Maybe the throne of the world’s richest will go to someone else again, but right now, this is his moment. And he earned it.