Larry Ellison's Journey: From Orphan to World's Richest Person and His Five Marriages

On September 10, 2025, 81-year-old Larry Ellison officially claimed the world’s richest person title after his Oracle Corporation stock surged more than 40% in a single day following massive AI infrastructure deals. With a net worth reaching $393 billion, he dethroned Elon Musk and topped the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Yet Ellison’s rise to the pinnacle of wealth wasn’t merely about accumulating fortune—it’s a story intertwined with his personal relationships, multiple marriages, and an unconventional lifestyle that defied conventional wisdom about how a tech mogul should live.

Ellison’s spouse has been a frequent topic of public fascination, particularly his 2024 marriage to Jolin Zhu, a 47-year-younger Chinese-American woman he married quietly. This fifth marriage exemplifies his provocative personal choices that parallel his rebellious approach to business.

Building an Empire: From CIA Project to Database Dominance

Larry Ellison’s trajectory began in 1944 in the Bronx, New York, to an unmarried 19-year-old mother. Placed for adoption when he was nine months old, he grew up with his aunt’s family in Chicago—a household struggling with financial instability. His adoptive father worked as a government employee, and tragedy struck early when his adoptive mother passed away during his college years, forcing Ellison to drop out of the University of Illinois.

After years of aimless wandering across America and taking freelance programming jobs, Ellison discovered his calling at Ampex Corporation in the early 1970s. It was there he worked on a groundbreaking project: designing a database management system for the CIA—codenamed “Oracle.” This experience proved transformative. In 1977, the 32-year-old co-founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL) with colleagues Bob Miner and Ed Oates, with just $2,000 in combined capital ($1,200 from Ellison himself). They commercialized their relational database system and branded it Oracle.

What distinguished Ellison wasn’t inventing database technology—but recognizing its commercial potential decades before others. He gambled his entire fortune on this vision. The bet paid off spectacularly. In 1986, Oracle went public on NASDAQ, and by the 1990s, the company dominated the enterprise database market. For decades, Ellison served as the company’s strategic backbone, holding nearly every leadership position and steering Oracle through boom cycles and competitive challenges against Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure.

The AI Infrastructure Windfall: Oracle’s Second Act

By the early 2020s, Oracle appeared to be a legacy player—powerful but aging. However, the generative AI explosion changed everything. In September 2025, Oracle announced a transformative deal: a $300 billion, five-year partnership with OpenAI to provide AI infrastructure. The market’s response was immediate and dramatic—Oracle’s stock price soared over 40% in one day, marking its largest single-day gain since 1992.

This wasn’t mere luck. Larry Ellison had repositioned Oracle to become a core infrastructure supplier in the AI era. While competitors scrambled to build data centers, Ellison and his team aggressively expanded Oracle’s AI infrastructure capabilities. The company laid off traditional software divisions while doubling down on cutting-edge AI infrastructure investment. Analysts noted the transformation: Oracle had evolved from an “aging software vendor” to an “AI infrastructure dark horse,” perfectly positioned to capture this lucrative market segment.

The Wealth Surge and Family Expansion

Ellison’s $100+ billion one-day wealth increase on September 10, 2025, wasn’t just a personal milestone—it represented a broader consolidation of the Ellison family’s power. His son David Ellison acquired Paramount Global (CBS and MTV’s parent company) for $8 billion, with $6 billion in financial backing from the family. This move signaled the Ellisons’ expansion beyond Silicon Valley into Hollywood, creating a cross-sector wealth and influence empire.

Politically, Ellison has leveraged his fortune strategically. A longtime Republican donor, he funded Marco Rubio’s 2015 presidential campaign and contributed $15 million to Senator Tim Scott’s super PAC in 2022. In January 2025, he appeared at the White House alongside SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI’s Sam Altman to announce a $500 billion AI data center network initiative—positioning Oracle’s technology at the infrastructure core.

Personal Life: Sports, Discipline, and Multiple Marriages

Behind the billionaire persona lies a paradox: Ellison combines austere discipline with extravagant indulgence. He owns 98% of Lanai Island in Hawaii, multiple California mansions, and world-class yachts. He is obsessed with water sports—particularly surfing and sailing. A near-fatal surfing accident in 1992 nearly took his life but failed to dampen his enthusiasm for high-risk water activities.

His sailing passion led to major accomplishments. In 2013, his Oracle Team USA orchestrated one of sailing’s greatest comebacks, winning the America’s Cup in an unforgettable comeback victory. Later, in 2018, he founded SailGP, a high-speed catamaran league attracting heavyweight investors including actress Anne Hathaway and soccer star Kylian Mbappé.

Tennis is another passion. Ellison revitalized the Indian Wells tournament in California, elevating it to be regarded as tennis’s “fifth Grand Slam.” His commitment to physical fitness is legendary—reports indicate he exercised for hours daily throughout the 1990s and 2000s, strictly controlled his diet, avoided sugary drinks, and consumed only water and green tea. This discipline, combined with his athletic pursuits, keeps him appearing “twenty years younger than his peers” despite his 81 years.

Regarding his personal life, Ellison has been married five times. His most recent marriage in 2024 to Jolin Zhu, a Chinese-American woman born in Shenyang and educated at the University of Michigan, added yet another chapter to his complicated romantic history. At 47 years his junior, Zhu represents Ellison’s pattern of pursuing younger spouses while maintaining his whirlwind lifestyle. Social media quipped that Ellison loves surfing and dating with equal passion—both equally thrilling experiences for the aging billionaire.

Philanthropic Vision and Legacy

Despite signing the Giving Pledge in 2010 and promising to donate 95% of his wealth, Ellison operates differently than peers like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. He avoids collective philanthropic efforts and prefers to independently chart his giving strategy. As The New York Times observed, he “values solitude and resists external influence.”

His philanthropic initiatives reflect this independence. In 2016, he donated $200 million to the University of Southern California for cancer research. Recently, he announced commitments to the Ellison Institute of Technology (established with Oxford University) focusing on life-saving drug development, affordable agricultural systems, and clean energy solutions. On social media, he articulated this vision: designing next-generation pharmaceuticals, building cost-effective food production systems, and creating efficient renewable energy infrastructure.

Conclusion: The Unfinished Saga of a Tech Pioneer

At 81 years old, Larry Ellison ascended to the world’s richest person status in 2025, validating a career that began with a CIA database project and evolved into a technology empire. His strategic positioning within the AI infrastructure boom demonstrates that legendary tech leaders aren’t merely relics of the past—they remain capable of reinvention and capturing emerging opportunities. While Larry Ellison’s personal life—including his five marriages and his current spouse—continues generating tabloid interest, his true legacy rests on recognizing transformative technologies early and investing with conviction. Whether his hold on the richest person title proves temporary or lasting, Ellison has proven that the original generation of Silicon Valley titans remains formidable forces reshaping the technological and economic landscape.