Kaylah Walton
What will Larry Ellison‘s net worth look like in 2025? How did the 80-year-old New Yorker become the second richest person globally, just behind Elon Musk?
Ellison was born in 1944 during World War II. After developing pneumonia at the age of nine, he was placed in the care of his aunt and uncle.
Growing up on Chicago’s South Shore, he later attended the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago, but he did not earn degrees from either institution.
By 2005, Ellison earned a $975,000 salary along with a $6.5 million bonus, totaling $955,000 in additional compensation through his work at Oracle. By 2007, his income had reached approximately $70 million, positioning him as the wealthiest person in California.
By 2010, he ranked as the sixth richest individual worldwide, and his wealth continued to grow, making him the third wealthiest American according to Forbes.
As of January 2025, Larry Ellison boasts a net worth of around $216.9 billion, placing him third on the Forbes list, following Elon Musk of SpaceX and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.
He is nearly $4 billion wealthier than Mark Zuckerberg and trails Bezos by nearly $30 billion.
His wealth primarily comes from Oracle, with additional earnings from Tesla, his ownership of 98% of Lanai Island in Hawaii, and Paramount Global. Recently, he also purchased the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa in Florida.
The Creation of Oracle
Ellison’s entrepreneurial venture began in 1977 when he co-founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL) with two partners, starting with an investment of $2,000, of which he contributed $1,200.
The company rebranded to Relational Software, Inc. (RSI) in 1979 and ultimately became Oracle Systems Corporation in 1983 after introducing their key product, the Oracle Database.
Despite initial struggles in the late 1980s and early 1990s due to a flawed business strategy that led to layoffs and legal complications, the company surged forward from the mid-1990s, gaining a dominant position in the market until the rise of Microsoft.
After facing challenges, Oracle made a strong comeback in the 2000s and reestablished itself as a major player in the tech industry.
