By Segun Adeyanju
Oracle chairman Larry Ellison has amassed the world’s second-largest fortune, valued at about $365 billion by defying conventional wealth management practices and holding onto his Oracle stock for nearly five decades.
Rather than selling shares to fund his lifestyle, Ellison has relied heavily on borrowing against his massive holdings, allowing him to raise cash without surrendering ownership or control.
According to SEC filings, Ellison owns 1.16 billion Oracle shares, or 41% of the company, far surpassing the ownership stakes of other top tech billionaires.
While Elon Musk holds less than 20% of Tesla and Mark Zuckerberg controls about 14% of Meta, Ellison’s grip on Oracle has only tightened, aided by aggressive share buybacks that boosted his stake from 23% to 41% in the past 15 years.
His fortune has financed billions in philanthropy, luxury real estate, sports ventures, collectibles, and media investments, including his son David’s Skydance Media, which recently acquired Paramount.
Ellison has pledged 277 million Oracle shares, valued at more than $82 billion, as collateral for personal loans. Oracle’s board has defended the arrangement, saying it poses no material risk to shareholders, though experts note the level of leverage is “off the charts.”
Now 81, Ellison continues to fund bold ventures, from backing Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover to spearheading the Ellison Institute of Technology, a global partnership with Oxford aimed at tackling climate change, disease, and hunger.
“Peer CEOs are advised to diversify and de-risk,” said Michael Sury of the University of Texas at Austin. “But Ellison remains an exception. His wealth, influence, and risk appetite make him stand out even at the very top of the billionaire ranks.”
