Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison has wrested the title of the world’s richest person from longtime holder Elon Musk.
On Wednesday, as stock in Ellison’s software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading, Ellison’s net worth surpassed the Tesla CEO, according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. As of 3pm in New York (19:00 GMT), Oracle stock is up 34.4 percent for the day.
Ellison, 81, is now worth $393bn, according to Bloomberg. That is several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest person for four years running. Stock in one of Musk’s biggest holdings, Tesla, has been moving in the opposite direction of Oracle’s, dropping 14 percent so far this year as of Tuesday.
The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle, powered by multibillion-dollar orders from customers as the AI race heats up.
Ellison’s net worth is largely derived from his 41 percent stake in Oracle.
Another news organisation with a long history of tallying the world’s richest, Forbes, still has Musk at the top, at $439bn. Bloomberg put his net worth at $385bn. The difference is in how the two estimate the value of Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, among other private holdings.
It comes as Tesla shareholders have offered Musk a $1 trillion compensation package.
With Ellison’s surging fortune on Wednesday, he could fund the lifestyles of five million US families for a year, about the entire population of Florida, allowing them to all quit their jobs, assuming the US median household income.
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