Larry Ellison Couldn't Afford His Electric Bill Once Upon A Time — In 2025 He's Added Nearly $100 Billion

Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL), has pulled off one of the most remarkable wealth surges in 2025—adding nearly $100 billion to his net worth in just seven months, despite a past that included struggling to pay his utility bills.

What Happened: Ellison's journey wasn't always lined with billion-dollar valuations. In a 2024 conversation with Disprz, he recalled times in the 1970s when he couldn't afford his electric and gas bills.

His biggest concern at the time wasn't losing heat or entertainment—but losing access to the garage computer where he was building his early software innovations. "Without electricity, my computer wouldn't work," he said.

"I couldn't even get [investors] to say no because nobody even met me," Ellison said, describing how he used to wait outside venture capital offices.

But, how the tables have turned.

Today, the Oracle co-founder is worth $289 billion, making him the second-richest person in the world, trailing only Elon Musk, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

His net worth has jumped by $96.8 billion year-to-date, outpacing Jeff Bezos ($9.95 billion gain), Mark Zuckerberg ($40.5 billion gain) and Jensen Huang ($31.2 billion gain).

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Why It's Important: Ellison's fortune—over 80% of which is linked to Oracle stock and options—has surged as Oracle shares jumped 27.69% over the past six months.

The tech giant Ellison co-founded in 1977 has seen its stock soar 43.41% year-to-date and 66.38% over the past year, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Earlier this month, the U.S. government signaled it would ease export restrictions, allowing Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices to resume some semiconductor sales to China. Oracle, which depends on advanced chips for its cloud and AI infrastructure, was a key beneficiary of this policy shift.

Oracle has also signed multibillion-dollar cloud agreements and expanded partnerships with companies like OpenAI and SoftBank Group as part of its Stargate initiative.

Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that Oracle is showing strong upward momentum across short, medium and long-term periods. More detailed performance insights can be found here.