Elon Musk is once again at the top of the world’s wealth rankings after briefly losing the spot to Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. For a few hours on Wednesday, Ellison managed to surpass Musk following a historic jump in Oracle’s stock price, driven by rising demand for artificial intelligence services.
According to a Bloomberg report, Ellison’s sudden wealth surge was the result of Oracle’s strong earnings and market optimism around its role in AI infrastructure.
How Did Ellison Briefly Take The Lead?
On Tuesday evening, Oracle released its earnings report, which immediately boosted investor confidence. As a result, Oracle’s stock soared by as much as 43% before closing the day 36% higher, its biggest single-day gain since 1992.
This sharp rise increased the company’s market value by about $244 billion, lifting it to around $922 billion overall.
The surge pushed Oracle up the S&P 500 rankings, allowing it to overtake major names like Walmart, Eli Lilly, and JPMorgan Chase to become the 10th most valuable company. Since Ellison is Oracle’s largest shareholder, his personal wealth has grown dramatically.
At one point, his net worth jumped as much as $101 billion in a single day, the biggest one-day gain ever recorded by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
How Did Musk Reclaim The Top Spot?
Despite Ellison’s short-lived rise, Musk’s wealth, tied mainly to Tesla and SpaceX, remained slightly ahead by the end of Wednesday’s trading. His net worth settled at $384.2 billion, putting him about $1 billion ahead of Ellison.
Musk has mostly held onto the title of world’s richest person since 2021, though he has been overtaken a few times in recent years.
LVMH chief Bernard Arnault briefly led in 2021, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos reclaimed the top spot in 2024. Still, Musk regained the lead last year and has held it for over 300 days.
This latest shift highlights how quickly fortunes can change in global markets, especially with the growing influence of artificial intelligence on stock values.
