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- Larry Ellison and Elon Musk are trading the title of the richest person on the planet.
- Ellison took the crown on Wednesday as Oracle stock surged, but Musk reclaimed it by the end of the day.
- Oracle shares have roughly doubled this year thanks to AI buzz, while Tesla shares have receded.
Elon Musk is the world’s richest person again — but only just.
He and Larry Ellison are vying for the title after Oracle’s remarkable stock surge.
The enterprise-software giant’s cofounder briefly leapfrogged the Tesla and SpaceX CEO on Wednesday as Oracle shares soared 43% to a record intraday high of about $346. The frenzy was sparked by Oracle projecting massive revenue growth in its cloud infrastructure business, fueled by demand from AI customers.
Oracle soared past JPMorgan and Walmart in market value, touching a $970 billion market capitalization before ending the day worth $922 billion.
Ellison’s 41% stake in Oracle jumped in value to nearly $400 billion at one point on Wednesday, catapulting him past Musk, whose net worth was $383 billion at Tuesday’s close, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
However, Oracle shares receded from their peak, closing 36% higher at about $328 on Wednesday. Ellison’s net worth ultimately rose about $89 billion to end the day at $383 billion, per Bloomberg’s rich list. Meanwhile, Tesla stock closed 0.2% higher, pushing Musk’s fortune up to $384 billion at Wednesday’s close and meaning he reclaimed the top spot.
The pair remained far ahead of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon cofounder Jeff Bezos, in third and fourth place with net worths of $264 billion and $252 billion respectively at Wednesday’s close, per the wealth index.
Ellison cemented his position as the biggest wealth gainer in Bloomberg’s ranking this year with a $191 billion increase as of Wednesday’s close. Musk led the list of greatest wealth losers with a $48 billion decline this year. Those shifts in fortunes reflect Oracle stock rising 97% and Tesla stock sliding 14% since the start of January.
Oracle and Tesla shares rose again in Thursday’s premarket; they were up 1.6% and 1.0% respectively as of 6:55 a.m. ET. Depending on how the pair trade today, Ellison could overtake Musk again or continue to trail him.
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