Ellison's net worth reached an estimated US$296 billion at Tuesday's market close, according to Forbes, placing him behind only Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, whose fortune was estimated at $826 billion.

Ellison owns nearly 1.2 billion Oracle shares, representing about 40% of the company, making the software giant the main source of his wealth.

The 80-year-old billionaire moved into the No. 2 spot after Oracle shares climbed 28% over the past five trading days. He briefly topped $300 billion on Monday before his fortune edged lower as the stock gave back some gains.

Page ranked third with an estimated net worth of about $295 billion. Shares of Alphabet, Google's parent company, have fallen 6% over the past five days and dropped another 3.8% on Tuesday after the company announced plans to raise $80 billion through stock sales to fund its artificial intelligence expansion.

World's second richest man and founder of Oracle, Larry Ellison. Photo from Instagram

Investor enthusiasm for AI infrastructure has helped drive Oracle's recent gains. The company has repositioned itself as a major provider of the computing power needed to train and operate advanced AI systems.

Ellison co-founded Oracle, originally known as Software Development Laboratories, in 1977 with Bob Miner and Ed Oates. He stepped down as chief executive in 2014 after leading the company for 37 years and now serves as chairman and chief technology officer.

Forbes first listed him as a billionaire in 1993 at age 49. According to Bloomberg, a rally in Oracle shares on Sept. 10, 2025, briefly made him the world's richest person for several hours, with an estimated net worth of $383.2 billion.

Ellison has also borrowed heavily against his Oracle stake to fund a lifestyle that includes superyachts, ownership of about 98% of Hawaii's Lanai island and investments in his son's Hollywood ventures, according to The Wall Street Journal.