Larry Ellison Climbs to No. 2 on Billionaires List

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has reclaimed the position of the world’s second-richest person after a sharp rise in Oracle’s share price significantly increased his personal fortune. As markets closed on Tuesday, Ellison’s net worth was estimated at $296 billion, placing him ahead of Google co-founder Larry Page and behind only Elon Musk, whose wealth is estimated at approximately $826 billion.

Although Ellison’s fortune slipped by about $4 billion from the previous day, when it briefly exceeded $300 billion, the Oracle founder has benefited from a strong rally in the company’s stock. Oracle shares have gained roughly 28% over the past five trading days, underscoring investor enthusiasm for the company’s growing role in artificial intelligence infrastructure. The stock, however, fell 1.4% on Tuesday after surging more than 10% a day earlier.

Meanwhile, shares of Google parent company Alphabet have faced mounting pressure, declining 6% over the past five days and dropping another 3.8% on Tuesday. The selloff followed the company’s announcement that it plans to raise $80 billion through stock sales to support its expanding AI infrastructure investments. As a result, Page and fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin each saw their fortunes shrink by around $10 billion during Tuesday’s trading session.

The contrasting fortunes of Ellison and the Google founders highlight the financial impact of the AI boom. Oracle has successfully repositioned itself from a traditional database software provider into a key supplier of computing power used to run advanced AI systems, including technologies such as ChatGPT. Investors have rewarded that transformation, while companies investing heavily in AI infrastructure have faced concerns over soaring costs.

Alphabet has projected capital expenditures of approximately $180 billion to $190 billion for 2026, nearly double its spending in 2025 and significantly above analyst expectations. The company intensified those investments this week by announcing the $80 billion fundraising effort, which includes a $10 billion commitment from Berkshire Hathaway. During the company’s latest earnings call, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai identified computing capacity as one of the company’s primary concerns as AI demand accelerates.

Industry-wide spending on AI infrastructure continues to surge. The four largest cloud computing providers—Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon—are expected to spend a combined $725 billion on capital expenditures this year, largely driven by artificial intelligence projects. Analysts believe that figure could surpass $1 trillion in the coming years.

At 80 years old, Ellison remains one of the most influential figures in technology and finance. A longtime ally of Musk and a shareholder in Tesla, he briefly overtook Musk as the world’s wealthiest person in September 2025 when his fortune surpassed $400 billion. Beyond Oracle, Ellison owns 98% of the Hawaiian island of Lanai and has supported his son, David Ellison, through investments in Skydance and Paramount. The combined companies recently led a successful $110 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros..