- By Shivangi Sharma
- Thu, 11 Sep 2025 04:27 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
From being abandoned as a baby to becoming the world’s richest man, Larry Ellison’s story is one of resilience and ambition. He recently overtook Elon Musk to claim the top spot on the global rich list, a milestone that marks his rise from hardship to dominance in the tech world.
Larry Ellison was born on August 17, 1944, in New York City to Florence Spellman, an unwed Jewish mother. His father, an Italian-American pilot, was absent. At nine months old, Ellison caught pneumonia. His mother gave him up for adoption to her aunt and uncle in Chicago.
He grew up in a modest middle-class neighbourhood. His adoptive mother, Lillian, was warm and supportive. His adoptive father, Louis, was distant and often critical. This doubt only pushed Ellison to prove himself.
College Dropout Turned Innovator
Ellison studied pre-med at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign but dropped out after his adoptive mother’s death. He later spent a term at the University of Chicago, where he discovered computer programming. That discovery shaped his future.
In California, Ellison worked as a programmer during the 1970s. At Ampex Corporation, he built a database project for the CIA called “Oracle.” Inspired by Edgar F Codd’s paper on relational databases, Ellison saw the potential to transform how data was managed.
Founding Oracle
In 1977, with just USD 2,000—USD 1,200 of it his own, Ellison co-founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL). The company later became Oracle Systems Corporation. By the early 1990s, Oracle nearly went bankrupt due to aggressive sales practices. But it survived and grew into a major force in enterprise technology.
Ellison’s bold strategies and appetite for risk pushed Oracle to the front of the database industry. He expanded through acquisitions, including Sun Microsystems in 2010 and NetSuite in 2016, cementing Oracle’s dominance.
From Tech Mogul To World’s Richest Man
Ellison’s fortune rose sharply as Oracle’s stock climbed. His early investment in Tesla added to his wealth. In 2012, he made headlines for buying most of the Hawaiian island of Lanai. Today, Ellison’s wealth is counted in billions, but his legacy goes beyond money.
On Tuesday, he became the world’s richest man, surpassing Tesla CEO Elon Musk, after an unprecedented surge in Oracle’s stock price. The 81-year-old tech tycoon’s net worth skyrocketed by USD 101 billion in a single day, the largest one-day gain ever recorded by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In comparison, Musk’s net worth now stands at USD 385 billion.
From abandoned infant to billionaire trailblazer, Larry Ellison’s journey is a story of perseverance, vision, and unshakable belief. Ellison's net worth is USD 393 billion.