A few months ago, something happened that few noticed amid all the AI madness: Larry Ellison, at 81 years old, became the richest man in the world. It wasn’t magic; it was Oracle closing huge deals, including that $300 billion agreement with OpenAI. Shares soared 40% in a day. But the interesting part isn’t just the wealth; it’s how this guy got there.

Ellison started as an orphan in the Bronx, raised by his aunt in Chicago. He dropped out of college with nothing, worked at Ampex designing systems for the CIA, and in 1977 co-founded Oracle with $2,000. Since then, for over 40 years, he has led the company with a competitive obsession bordering on the obsessive. Even after nearly dying surfing in 1992, he kept going as if nothing happened.

What’s fascinating is how Oracle reinvented itself. It fell behind in cloud computing compared to AWS and Azure, but when generative AI exploded, Ellison saw the opportunity and pivoted the entire company toward data infrastructure. Suddenly, the old software manufacturer became a key player in the AI race.

Now, this guy’s personal life is as dramatic as his career. He owns 98% of Lanai Island in Hawaii, has world-class yachts, and is practically a sports legend: revitalized Indian Wells tennis, founded SailGP with high-speed catamarans. In 2024, Ellison quietly married Jolin Zhu, a woman 47 years younger than him, originally from China. The news broke through a donation document from the University of Michigan listing ‘Larry Ellison and his wife Jolin.’ The internet joked that the guy loves surfing and also loves falling in love. His spouse is much younger, which caused quite a stir, but for Ellison, it seems to be part of his lifestyle: guilt-free luxury, constant adventure, extreme self-discipline.

At 81, he still looks like he’s 60. He trains for hours daily, drinks only water and green tea, controls every detail of his diet. The guy is practically obsessed with his body and mind. And that shows in everything: how he manages Oracle, how he chooses his partner, how he invests his wealth.

In philanthropy, he promised to donate 95% of his fortune, but in his own way. He created the Ellison Institute of Technology with Oxford to research medicine, agriculture, and clean energy. He doesn’t want to join Gates or Buffett in collective initiatives; he prefers to design his own future.

What fascinates me is that at 81, when many retire, Ellison is at the center of the most important storm right now: AI infrastructure. His spouse, extreme sports, his mansions—all of that is secondary. What truly defines him is that he never settled, never stopped competing, never saw a limit he didn’t want to cross. That is true wealth.