Larry Ellison beats Elon Musk in billionaire's game. Is Oracle ready to dethrone Tesla from the world's top 10 list?

Larry Ellison briefly overtook Elon Musk as the world’s richest man on Wednesday after a historic rally in Oracle Corp shares added $244 billion to the software giant’s market value. The surge pushed Oracle closer to the $1 trillion mark and fueled speculation over whether it could soon displace Tesla Inc among the world’s 10 most valuable companies.

Oracle shares soared as much as 43% during intraday trading before closing 36% higher—the company’s biggest one-day jump since 1992.

The rally followed a bullish forecast projecting Oracle’s cloud infrastructure revenue to grow from $10.3 billion in fiscal 2025 to $144 billion by 2030. The gains drove Oracle’s market capitalization to $922 billion, placing it 12th among the world’s most valuable firms.

The surge added $88.5 billion to Ellison’s wealth in a single day—the largest one-day fortune increase ever recorded, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. At one point, Ellison’s net worth rose to $393 billion, briefly topping Musk’s $384 billion, before settling at $383 billion by market close. Musk regained the lead with $384 billion, while Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg followed in third at $264 billion.

Big cloud bets

Oracle’s momentum was fueled by blockbuster deals in the artificial intelligence arms race. Chief Executive Safra Catz told analysts the company signed four multi-billion-dollar contracts in its fiscal first quarter, boosting contracted but unrecognized revenue to $455 billion—four times last year’s level.

On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI agreed to purchase $300 billion worth of computing power from Oracle over five years—one of the largest cloud contracts ever signed. Oracle also counts xAI, Meta, Nvidia, and AMD among its AI customers.

Bank of America analysts upgraded Oracle stock to “buy” from “neutral,” citing its “exceptional backlog” and calling the company “a key AI enabler.”

Musk’s Tesla under pressure

The reshuffling at the top of the billionaire rankings comes as Musk’s wealth faces pressure from a 12% drop in Tesla shares this year, driven by weak demand and political fallout. Tesla remains the 10th most valuable company with a market capitalization of $1.1 trillion, just ahead of Berkshire Hathaway at $1.06 trillion.

If Oracle sustains its momentum, it could soon challenge Tesla for a spot in the global top 10. “The bullish outlook has launched Oracle firmly into the elite group of cloud-computing titans battling it out in the race for AI supremacy,” Catz said Tuesday in an earnings call.

The stakes ahead

The world’s most valuable companies remain dominated by tech heavyweights, led by Nvidia at $4.3 trillion, Microsoft at $3.6 trillion, Apple at $3.3 trillion, and Alphabet at $2.8 trillion. Amazon follows at $2.5 trillion, Meta at $1.9 trillion, Broadcom at $1.8 trillion, Saudi Aramco at $1.5 trillion, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co at $1.4 trillion.

Near the $1 trillion threshold, Tesla at $1.1 trillion and Berkshire Hathaway at $1.06 trillion are vulnerable to being overtaken if Oracle’s rally continues. With a market cap of $922 billion, Oracle is now within striking distance of joining the elite group.

For Ellison, the rally highlights a long journey from database pioneer to potential AI superpower. For Musk, it underscores how even the world’s richest man is not immune to market shifts.

Also read | Oracle's $244 billion single-day rally as big as entire IT trinity of TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech

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