Oracle founder Larry Ellison briefly overtook Elon Musk in global wealth rankings in September. His rise was driven by positivity around cloud infrastructure revenue after OpenAI committed to spend $300 billion with Oracle over five years, prompting a sharp one-day stock surge, which was the company’s strongest since 1992. However, that momentum has since faded. A CNBC report claims that Oracle’s value has since dropped by almost one-third (30%) over the last two months, completely erasing the stock gains from September. The earlier stock gain allowed Ellison’s net worth to increase by $101 billion in one day, the largest single-day wealth gain recorded in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. This event led to Ellison achieving a net worth of $393 billion, momentarily positioning him above Elon Musk. Currently, Musk has total net worth of $430 billion while Ellison sits at $275 billion.The company’s stock is reportedly currently on pace for its most significant monthly decline since 2011 and has drawn attention because it moved from business software into cloud computing later than its competitors. Its current strategy leans heavily on AI, with much of its outlook tied to OpenAI’s performance.Investors have reportedly gone increasingly cautious about high valuations and the heavy capital spending by a few large tech companies, especially if major AI start-ups such as OpenAI or Anthropic struggle to meet expectations for the technology.The foundation for this wealth gain was an earnings report that featured results exceeding expectations, a rise in bookings and a confident projection for future growth in cloud services, which resulted in a 41% stock rally, the largest in Oracle’s operational history. According to a report by The Financial Times, Oracle shares have now dropped 25% from last month, which is almost double the decline of the next weakest hyperscaler, Meta. A FT index tracking the value of Oracle’s debt has dropped about 6% since mid-September, which is also a steeper slide than that of its peers.
How Elon Musk regained his top position
However, Musk quickly regained his position as the world’s richest person after briefly falling behind Ellison. Musk moved ahead again with an estimated net worth of $384.2 billion, reflecting how quickly billionaire rankings can shift in the tech sector.
Musk’s return to the top was supported by gains in his major holdings. Tesla shares have risen over the past year despite softer vehicle sales and delays in its robo-taxi plans. SpaceX, now valued at about $400 billion, continues to boost Musk’s wealth, helped by revenue from its Starlink satellite business. Apart from this, Musk’s stake in xAI, which was recently merged with X, adds further value, with the combined entities estimated at around $60 billion.Alongside Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, and X, Musk’s other ventures, such as Neuralink and the Boring Company, added to his portfolio’s long-term potential. His mix of transportation, space, and AI investments illustrates how innovation-heavy businesses can influence billionaire rankings amid ongoing market and political shifts.
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