Larry Ellison is primarily known for being the founder and former CEO of database giant Oracle. For those of you who are not aware, for much of the pre-Internet 80s and 90s, Oracle was the dominant supplier of software for business systems.
You know how Microsoft dominated personal computing with software like Excel and Word? Oracle had the same dominance with software that powered payroll systems, hospital records, hotel/airline booking services… etc. If you receive a paycheck from or fill out expense reports for a medium to large company, there's a good chance Oracle is powering that software behind the scenes.
Oracle went public on March 12, 1986, literally ONE DAY before his rival, Bill Gates, took Microsoft public. Over the last 25 years, Larry has cashed out at least $12 billion from Oracle through stock sales and dividends. He has used some of the proceeds generated by these sales to acquire arguably the coolest portfolio of toys, real estate, hobbies, and endeavors in the world. He owns the entire Hawaiian Island of Lanai. He owns 98% of the Hawaiian island of Lāna'i, including nearly all of its buildings and both of its Four Seasons resorts. He also basically owns an America's Cup racing team, TWELVE homes in Malibu, the 249-acre Porcupine Creek Estate golf course in Rancho Mirage, California, the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Coachella Valley, California, several private jets, a Mig-29 fighter jet, an airline… I could go on and on, but I'll stop there.
Even after selling $12+ billion worth of his equity to fund the acquisition of billions of dollars worth of toys and real estate, Larry is still one of Oracle's largest individual shareholders. According to his last SEC filing, Larry owns around 42% of Oracle's total outstanding equity. Oracle currently has a market cap of around $680 billion.
On July 16, 2025, Larry became the second richest person in the world for the first time when his net worth topped $256 billion. The only person richer in the world is Elon Musk, who has a net worth of $366 billion.
Larry Ellison and Elon Musk have been close personal friends going back over a decade. Larry has been one of Elon's biggest defenders.
At one of Tesla's lowest points several years back, when critics were slinging insults at Elon for his mildly erratic behavior (smoking pot on Joe Rogan, tweeting insane thoughts), here's how Larry responded:
"This guy is landing rockets. You know, he's landing rockets on robot drone rafts in the ocean. And you're saying he doesn't know what he's doing. Well, who else is landing rockets? You ever land a rocket on a robot drone? Who are you?"
(Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images)
Betting $1 billion on His Friend
As it turns out, Larry wasn't just defending Elon with words; he threw in his support as a Tesla stock owner.
Over several quiet transactions in 2018, Larry acquired enough Tesla stock that he was eventually required to file with the SEC. According to the SEC filing, during 2018, Larry quietly acquired 3 million shares of Tesla, roughly 1.7% of the company's total outstanding shares at the time. He spent roughly $1 billion to acquire the shares.
According to Tesla's latest SEC filings, today, Larry owns 1.4% of Tesla. As I type this article, Tesla's market cap is $1 trillion. Therefore, Larry's 1.4% stake is worth…
$14 billion
From a $1 billion investment.
Not bad!
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