Oracle's Ellison has almost caught up with Musk in the billionaire race. Will the leader change?

Oracle chairman and co-founder Larry Ellison has rapidly closed the gap between him and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in the race to become the richest man on the planet. The growth of Oracle shares by almost 30% after the publication of the reports increased the estimate of 81-year-old Ellison's fortune by $70 billion, Bloomberg calculated. That could be a record gain for the day. The gap between him and Musk has narrowed to $20 billion, and Tesla shares - the backbone of Musk's fortune - are still mostly losing value.

Larry Ellison's fortune increased by $70 billion after Oracle published its quarterly report in the evening of September 9, after the main trading session in New York had closed, and the company's shares jumped by almost 30% in extended trading. This was reported by Bloomberg.

As a result, Ellison's fortune reached $364 billion. This is only $20 billion less than the richest businessman in the world according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index Elon Musk: the agency estimates his fortune at $384 billion.

If by the opening of main trading on September 10, the explosive growth rate of Oracle shares will be maintained, the increase in Ellison's fortune may become the most significant for one day in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index list, the agency writes.

According to the Forbes Real-Time ranking, which is updated in real time depending on the quotes (on the main trading floors), Musk's fortune is $435.6 billion, and Ellison's is $293 billion. Thus, to overtake Musk and take the first place in the Forbes list, Ellison needs to increase his fortune by at least $142.7 billion - provided that Musk's fortune does not grow.

Oracle shares, which have already gained 45% since the start of 2025 through Sept. 9, soared more than 30% in the premarket on the morning of Sept. 10. The company had announced a significant growth in its order book a day earlier and gave an ambitious outlook for its cloud business. It's the most significant one-day jump in the company's stock price in 25 years.

At the same time, Tesla shares have fallen 14% since the beginning of the year.

Ahead of the publication of Oracle reports BMO Capital Markets (Bank of Montreal) raised the target price of Oracle shares by 12% (from $245 to $275), Citigroup - by 22% (from $196 to $240), RBC kept the target at $195. On September 10, UBS raised its price target for Oracle by 29% (from $280 to $360), Jefferies - by 33% (from $270 to $360). All of them left their ratings unchanged, with Citi and RBC at Neutral, BMO at Outperform, and UBS and Jefferies at Buy. Barclays before the report also reaffirmed its recommendation to buy the company's securities with Overweight rating and raised its target price on them from $221 to $281.

According to FactSet, most analysts consider Oracle stock a bargain: its consensus rating is now "Outperform".

Elon Musk first topped Bloomberg's list of the world's richest businessmen in 2021, but later Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Bernard Arnault of LVMH took over the title. The Tesla CEO regained the top spot in 2024 and has held it for more than 300 consecutive days, Bloomberg noted.

The third line of the ranking of billionaires according to Bloomberg is occupied by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg: since the beginning of 2025 his fortune has grown by $61.5 billion. Bezos increased his capital by $19.7 billion, but it did not help him to stay in the top three - now he is fourth. Arnault lost $13.6 billion in 2025 amid weakening demand for luxury and dropped to eighth place.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor