A look at Larry Ellison's Silicon Valley legend from the perspective of the richest man

On September 10, 2025, when Oracle’s stock price surged 40% in a single day, Larry Ellison officially ascended to the top of the world’s richest person with a net worth of $393 billion. The 81-year-old Silicon Valley veteran, driven by the wave of artificial intelligence, completed a “long-overdue comeback”—from dropping out of college with nothing to leading the world’s largest data empire. Larry Ellison proved what it means to have an adventurous spirit that never ages over more than 60 years.

Before this moment, Elon Musk had long held the position of the world’s richest person. But after Oracle announced a $300 billion, five-year partnership with OpenAI, market valuation of this “AI infrastructure dark horse” experienced a dramatic shift. With a single-day wealth increase of over $100 billion, Larry Ellison proved with facts: in an era where AI is reshaping industries, the old-generation tech giants are far from finished.

The AI Infrastructure Player: Larry Ellison’s Era Choice

Perhaps no one could have imagined how a company once sluggish in the cloud computing era managed a stunning turnaround amid the explosion of generative AI.

After going public in 1986, Oracle long dominated the enterprise database market. But as Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure rose during the cloud wave, Oracle seemed somewhat caught off guard. From the 1990s to mid-2010s, people even discussed whether this software giant would be phased out by history.

The turning point came in early 2025. With the explosive growth of ChatGPT and generative AI, data centers and infrastructure became the new battleground. Leveraging its deep experience in databases and two decades of cultivating enterprise clients, Oracle rediscovered its position in the new era.

In summer 2025, Larry Ellison led a major strategic shift. The company announced layoffs of thousands, focusing on slimming down traditional software and hardware sales departments, while aggressively investing in data centers and AI infrastructure. This was not just a business adjustment but a precise grasp of the pulse of the times—he saw that in the AI era, whoever controls the infrastructure controls the discourse.

This insight, to some extent, defined Larry Ellison’s entire business career. In the early 1970s, he saw the prospects of database commercialization; in the early 2000s, he recognized the importance of cloud computing; by the 2020s, he was among the first to deploy AI infrastructure. Each strategic shift allowed this Silicon Valley veteran to gain an advantage in new competition.

From Orphan to CEO: How Larry Ellison Built the Oracle Empire

To understand why Larry Ellison is so obsessed with risk-taking and challenge, perhaps we need to look back at his origins.

Born in 1944 in the Bronx, New York. His biological mother was a 19-year-old unmarried woman unable to raise him. At nine months old, Larry Ellison was sent to Chicago and adopted by his aunt’s family. His adoptive father was a government employee with a modest income, and the family was in financial hardship. This early loneliness and insecurity may have unconsciously shaped his later personality—discontent with mediocrity, a desire for control, and an unwillingness to stop moving forward.

In college, Larry Ellison tried to follow a conventional path. He enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but dropped out in his sophomore year after his adoptive mother passed away. He then attended the University of Chicago but only for one semester. It was these failed attempts that led him to make a bold decision: leave school and find his own way.

In his twenties, Larry Ellison traveled across the U.S. He did freelance programming in Chicago, then drove to Berkeley, California—then a hub of counterculture and a cradle of emerging technology. As he himself said: “People there look freer and smarter.”

The pivotal opportunity came at Ampex Corporation, a tech company focused on audio/video storage and data processing. It provided Larry Ellison with a key project: designing a database system for the CIA. This project, codenamed “Oracle,” showed him the limitless potential of relational databases in business.

In 1977, at age 32, Larry Ellison co-founded Software Development Laboratories with two former colleagues, Bob Miner and Ed Oates, investing $2,000 (Ellison contributed $1,200). Their first decision was to turn the CIA project experience into a commercial product, named “Oracle.”

Technically, Larry Ellison was not the inventor of database theory, but he was among the earliest to recognize its commercial value. More importantly, he was willing to all-in his entire fortune, spending ten years building a market dominator. In 1986, Oracle successfully went public on NASDAQ, becoming a rising star in enterprise software.

Over the next forty years, Larry Ellison almost played all key roles in Oracle. From 1978 to 1996, he served as president; from 1990 to 1992, he was chairman; he returned in 1995 and led for ten years. Even after stepping down as CEO in 2014, he remained involved as executive chairman and CTO, guiding the company’s strategic direction. This desire for control and execution power is at the core of Larry Ellison’s success.

Family, Politics, and Movement: The Multi-Dimensional Life of Larry Ellison

Larry Ellison’s wealth has long transcended personal boundaries, forming a vast influence network across family, politics, and society.

His son, David Ellison, recently acquired Paramount Global (the parent company of CBS and MTV) for $8 billion, with $6 billion supported by the Ellison family. This marks Larry Ellison’s influence extending from Silicon Valley into Hollywood. The father wields power in the tech industry, while the son dominates the film and TV industry—together building a wealth empire spanning technology and media.

In politics, Larry Ellison is also active. He has long supported the Republican Party and is a well-known political donor. In 2015, he funded Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign; in 2022, he donated $15 million to Tim Scott’s super PAC. In January this year, he announced, along with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, plans to build a $500 billion AI data center network. This is not just a commercial venture but a power structure alliance—Oracle’s technology will be the core infrastructure of this network.

In personal hobbies, Larry Ellison exhibits contradictory yet unified traits: luxury and discipline, adventure and precise calculation coexist.

He owns 98% of the land on Lanai Island in Hawaii, multiple mansions in California, and a world-class yacht. Yet, this super-rich individual has an almost obsessive passion for sports. In 1992, a surfing accident nearly took his life, but he did not give up the sport—instead, he devoted more energy to sailing competitions.

In 2013, he supported Oracle Team USA’s historic comeback in the America’s Cup sailing race, ultimately winning the cup. This victory was later called one of the most classic comebacks in sailing history. Inspired by this, Larry Ellison founded SailGP, a high-speed catamaran racing league, in 2018, which now attracts top investors including actress Anne Hathaway and football star Kylian Mbappé.

Tennis is another passion. He revitalized the Indian Wells Masters in California, earning it the reputation of the “Fifth Grand Slam.”

These sports are not just hobbies but secrets to Larry Ellison’s youthful vitality. An executive who once worked at one of his startups recalled that in the 1990s and 2000s, Ellison spent hours exercising daily. He rarely drank sugary drinks, only water and green tea, with strict dietary control. This near-rigorous discipline makes the 81-year-old look vibrant and even called “twenty years younger than his peers.”

In his love life, Larry Ellison has been married four times. In 2024, he quietly married Chinese-American Jolin Zhu, with the 47-year age gap again attracting media attention. This new marriage was disclosed in a donation document from the University of Michigan, mentioning “Larry Ellison and his wife Jolin.” Reports say Jolin Zhu was born in Shenyang, China, and graduated from the University of Michigan. Some netizens joked that Larry Ellison is fearless both at the crest of waves and in love.

An Independent Philanthropist: Larry Ellison’s Wealth View and Future Outlook

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

This independence runs through his philanthropic practice. In 2016, he donated $200 million to the University of Southern California to establish a cancer research center. Recently, he announced shifting some wealth toward the Ellison Institute of Technology, a collaboration with Oxford University focusing on healthcare, food, and climate issues. He stated on social media: “We aim to design new life-saving drugs, build low-cost agricultural systems, and develop efficient clean energy.”

Larry Ellison’s charitable approach is highly personal; he is not keen on standing with industry peers but prefers to independently design the future according to his own ideas. This reflects his life philosophy: ultimately, power, wealth, and influence should serve personal beliefs and free will.

Conclusion

At 81, Larry Ellison has finally reached the top of the world’s wealth list.

Starting from a CIA contract, he built a dominant global database empire. After a period of silence in cloud computing, he keenly positioned himself in the AI wave, becoming a key infrastructure provider. Wealth, power, family, politics, sports, and charity—Larry Ellison’s life is never short of topics.

This Silicon Valley “old rogue” is rebellious, competitive, and never compromises. The throne of the world’s richest may change hands again, but at least in this moment of 2025, Larry Ellison has proven with facts: in an era where AI is reshaping everything, the legend of a true tech giant is far from over. His story tells us that age is not the end, crises can become opportunities, as long as you have enough execution power and a keen sense of the times.