Tesla CEO Elon Musk is back on top as the world’s richest person but only by the slimmest of margins.
This week, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison briefly overtook Musk after Oracle’s stock surged to record highs, driven by strong demand for its cloud infrastructure services from artificial intelligence (AI) customers.
Oracle’s shares jumped as much as 43% on Wednesday to an all-time intraday high of about \$346. The rally pushed the company’s market value to \$970 billion before settling at \$922 billion by the end of the trading session.
Ellison, who owns about 41% of Oracle, saw his fortune balloon to nearly \$400 billion during the surge, temporarily leapfrogging Musk on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. Musk, whose wealth stood at \$383 billion on Tuesday, briefly lost the top spot.
By market close, Oracle shares eased to finish 36% higher at \$328, trimming Ellison’s net worth to around \$383 billion. Meanwhile, Tesla stock edged up 0.2%, lifting Musk’s fortune to \$384 billion and returning him to the number one spot.
The contest between Musk and Ellison has left the rest of the billionaire rankings far behind. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sits third at \$264 billion, while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos holds fourth at \$252 billion.
Ellison is currently the biggest wealth gainer of 2025, adding \$191 billion so far this year thanks to Oracle’s 97% stock surge. On the other hand, Musk has been the biggest loser, with his fortune sliding \$48 billion as Tesla stock has fallen 14% since January.
The rivalry may not be over yet. Oracle and Tesla shares both rose in Thursday’s premarket trading up 1.6% and 1.0% respectively. Depending on the day’s movements, Ellison could once again overtake Musk in the billionaire rankings.
