From being abandoned to the world's richest person: Oracle founder Larry Ellison's 81-year miracle

The orphan who was penniless and dropped out of college finally ascended to the position of the world’s richest person at the age of 81. Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, used a “belated comeback” to prove to the world what it means to be an everlasting tech legend.

Last fall, Oracle’s stock price soared over 40% in a single day, marking the largest single-day gain since 1992. Ellison’s net worth also skyrocketed by over $100 billion, surpassing Elon Musk, who had long held the top spot, officially becoming the new global richest person. At that moment, this 81-year-old Silicon Valley veteran once again proved: in an era where AI is reshaping everything, the legend of the older generation of tech giants is far from over.

How an orphan with nothing became a Silicon Valley legend step by step

Born in 1944 in the Bronx, New York, Larry Ellison’s life began with tragedy. His biological mother was a 19-year-old unmarried woman unable to raise him, so at nine months old, Ellison was sent to Chicago to be adopted by his aunt’s family. His adoptive father was an ordinary government employee, and the family was very financially strained.

Fate did not spare him. Although he was admitted to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he dropped out in his sophomore year after his adoptive mother passed away. He transferred to the University of Chicago but only persisted for one semester before leaving again. This young man seemed to have no affinity for traditional education but found his true direction through wandering and exploration.

After wandering across the United States, Ellison arrived in Berkeley, California — a hub of counterculture and a hotbed of emerging technology. “People there seemed freer and smarter,” he later recalled. It was here that he discovered his talent for programming.

In the early 1970s, a job at Ampex Corporation became a turning point in his life. At this tech company specializing in audio-visual storage and data processing, Ellison participated in a project that changed his destiny — designing a high-efficiency database system for the CIA, code-named “Oracle.”

That experience taught Ellison the commercial value of databases. In 1977, at age 32, he co-founded Software Development Laboratories with former colleagues Bob Miner and Ed Oates, investing $2,000 (Ellison contributed $1,200). Their first key decision was to develop a general-purpose commercial database system based on their CIA project experience, and they named it “Oracle.”

Interestingly, Ellison was not the inventor of database technology. But he was among the first to see its commercial potential and dared to bet his entire fortune on opening up the market. In 1986, Oracle went public on NASDAQ, becoming a dazzling star in the enterprise software market.

The belated king’s spectacular comeback in the AI wave: Oracle’s trump card

The ambition and persistence of Oracle’s founder have been evident throughout its more than forty years of development. Ellison has served as president, chairman, CEO, and held nearly all senior executive roles. A surfing accident in 1992 nearly took his life, but this near-death experience did not make him retreat. He returned to the company and continued to lead for another ten years until stepping down as CEO in 2014, though he still firmly controls the board as executive chairman and CTO.

Over four decades, Oracle experienced glory and downturns. It once dominated the database market but appeared sluggish in the cloud computing wave, losing ground to Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure. Facing market indifference, many thought Oracle was a thing of the past.

But Ellison is not one to accept defeat. In September 2025, Oracle announced four major contracts totaling hundreds of billions of dollars, including a five-year, $300 billion partnership with OpenAI. This is not just a numbers game but a strategic business pivot.

Leveraging its strong database foundation and deep engagement with enterprise clients, Oracle seized the opportunity of the explosive growth of AI infrastructure, successfully transforming into a “key supplier in the AI era.” The market went wild; the stock price surged over 40% in a single day, and Ellison’s wealth soared — surpassing Elon Musk to become the new global richest person.

The industry is beginning to see this veteran software company in a new light: from “yesterday’s relic” to “AI infrastructure dark horse,” Oracle has completed a belated but deadly comeback. Behind all this remains Ellison’s unquenchable ambition at age 81.

Business empire and personal legend: family, politics, and passionate life

Ellison’s wealth extends far beyond himself into a family empire. His son, David Ellison, recently acquired Paramount Global (the parent company of CBS and MTV) for $8 billion, with $6 billion coming from Ellison family funds. Suddenly, the Ellison family’s influence crossed from Silicon Valley into Hollywood — the father controls the data empire, the son rules the film and TV kingdom, and together they build a super empire spanning technology and media.

In the US political arena, Ellison also appears frequently. As a long-time supporter and political donor of the Republican Party, he has funded Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign and donated $15 million to Tim Scott’s political action committee. Earlier this year, he appeared with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the White House to announce the construction of a $500 billion AI data center network. This is not just a business move but an extension of power.

If business and politics are Ellison’s stage, then passion and discipline are his life principles. He owns 98% of the land on Lanai in Hawaii, multiple mansions in California, and world-class yachts — luxury and discipline coexist perfectly in him.

Ellison has an almost instinctive obsession with water and wind. The surfing accident in 1992 nearly took his life but could not extinguish his passion for the sport. Later, he turned his attention to sailing. In 2013, the Oracle Team USA, supported by him, staged one of the most legendary comebacks in America’s Cup sailing history, ultimately winning the cup. In 2018, he founded SailGP, a high-speed catamaran racing league, which now attracts celebrity investors like actress Anne Hathaway and football star Kylian Mbappé.

Tennis is another of his passions. He revitalized the Indian Wells Masters in California, elevating it to the status of the “fifth Grand Slam.” These sports are not just hobbies but his secret to staying young. Reports say that in the 1990s and 2000s, Ellison trained for hours daily, rarely drank sugary drinks, only water and green tea, and maintained strict dietary control. This discipline keeps him vibrant at 81, even described as “20 years younger than his peers.”

In terms of love life, Ellison has been married multiple times. His most recent was a low-profile wedding in 2024 with Chinese-American Jolin Zhu, who is 47 years his junior. Some netizens joked: Ellison loves surfing and also loves dating; for him, the crest of the wave and the love scene seem equally charming.

A promise of 95% wealth: an entrepreneur’s philanthropic aesthetic

In 2010, Ellison signed the “Giving Pledge,” promising to donate at least 95% of his wealth to charity. Unlike Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, he rarely participates in collective philanthropy. The New York Times once reported that he “cherishes solitude and is reluctant to be influenced by external ideas.”

In 2016, he donated $200 million to the University of Southern California to establish a cancer research center. Recently, he announced that part of his wealth would be directed toward the Ellison Institute of Technology, a collaboration with Oxford University focusing on medical, agricultural, and climate research. He wrote on social media: “We aim to design new life-saving drugs for humanity, build low-cost agricultural systems, and develop efficient clean energy.”

The philanthropic approach of Oracle’s founder is highly personal. He is not keen on standing with peers but prefers to independently design a future aligned with his vision — this independence is consistent with his style in business.

Conclusion

At 81, Larry Ellison finally completed his “belated victory” and made his last turnaround in life. From an abandoned orphan to the world’s richest, from a near-death surfer to a sailing legend, from a Silicon Valley veteran to a pioneer of the AI era — his life is never short of topics and has never strayed from the eye of the storm.

The founder of Oracle built an empire of databases over forty years and keenly positioned himself in the AI wave, completing a “belated but deadly” comeback. Wealth, power, sports, marriage, and charity — he embodies what it means to be a “perpetual prodigal” — stubborn, combative, and never compromising.

The throne of the world’s richest may soon change hands again, but at this moment, Ellison has already proven to the world: true legends never fade with age.