Larry Ellison Net Worth and Secret of his Success

American businessman and entrepreneur Larry Ellison is a co-founder of Oracle Corporation, a software corporation. From 1977 to 2014, he led Oracle as its CEO; he is now executive chairman and chief technology officer.

As of March 2024, Larry Ellison net worth ranks eighth in the world. Another well-known feature of Ellison is his 98% ownership of Lānaʻi, the sixth largest island in the Hawaiian Islands.

Most of Ellison's wealth comes from his ownership of the US software company Oracle. As per the corporation's June 2023 filing, he has over 42% of the company's shares. In September 2022, Ellison offered around 25% of his shares as security against personal debt in the company's proxy statement.

Larry Ellison Net Worth 2024

Larry Ellison net worth is estimated to be $133 billion in 2024. In June 2012, Larry paid $300 million for the Hawaiian island of Lanai and $80 million for a house in Palm Beach, Florida. In April 2021, the estate featured a 15,500-square-foot residence, multiple pools, a tennis field, and a sports center.

How much of Oracle does Larry own? Larry Ellison owns nearly 42% of Oracle. Roughly one-fourth of his shares have been pledged as security against personal debt and credit lines. His earnings from Oracle stock sales and dividends since 2003 have been close to $12 billion.

Next Read: Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin's Net Worth and Career

Personal Life

Larry has two kids and has been married four times. From 2003 to 2010, he was wed to Melanie Craft, a romance novelist, his most recent wife. Steve Jobs, a close friend of Larry's, was the official wedding photographer. Larry Ellison wife, Barbara Boothe, with whom he wed from 1983 until 1986, gave birth to two children. David and Megan Ellison, his two children, work as film producers.

At least $400 million of Larry's personal wealth has been donated to several charities so far. In addition, he has signed The Giving Pledge. In May 2016, Ellison donated $200 million to the University of Southern California to create the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC, a center for cancer research.

In the 2010 film Iron Man 2, Ellison had a fleeting appearance. Ellison acquired a 50% stake in the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in 2010.

Larry Ellison Early Life

Larry Ellison was born in New York City on August 17, 1944, to a Jewish mother, Florence Spellman, who was unmarried. His biological father, the US Army Air Corps pilot, was Italian American. Ellison's mother gave him to her aunt and uncle for adoption when he was nine months old due to pneumonia. His original mother was not seen again until he was 48 years old.

Ellison enrolled as a medical student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign after receiving his diploma from Chicago's South Shore High School. The university awarded him the title of scientific student of the year. After his sophomore year, he withdrew without completing final exams due to the recent death of his adopted mother.

After spending the summer of 1966 in California, he attended the University of Chicago for one term to study mathematics and physics. It was also there that he first learned about computer design. After that, he moved to Berkeley, California, and began working as a computer programmer for several companies.

In the 1970s, Ellison began working for Ampex Corporation. One of his projects was a database he called "Oracle" for the CIA. A study on relational database systems titled "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks" by Edgar F. Codd served as an inspiration for Ellison. With two partners and a $2,000 investment, he established Software Development Laboratories (SDL) in 1977; $1,200 belonged to him.

Larry Ellison Business Career

During his initial years at Oracle, Ellison was recognized as an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Program Award Recipient in the High Technology Category.

Informix surpassed Sybase in 1994 to emerge as Oracle's principal competitor. The bitter spat between Ellison and Informix CEO Phil White dominated Silicon Valley headlines for three years. In April 1997, Informix revealed significant revenue shortfalls and restated results.

Oracle Corporation paid Ellison a salary of $975,000, a bonus of $6,500,000, and other compensation of $955,100 in 2005. In total, Ellison received $61,180,524 in compensation for 2007. This amount comprised a $1,000,000 basic pay, a $8,369,000 cash bonus, and $50,087,100 in granted options. His overall payment for 2008 was $84,598,700, which consisted of a $1,000,000 base salary, a $10,779,000 cash bonus, no stock grants, and $71,372,700 in granted options.

Ellison has owned multiple aircraft and holds a pilot's license. The city of San Jose, California, issued a citation to him for exceeding its late-night aircraft weight limit of 75,000 pounds (34,019 kg) when taking off and landing from San Jose Mineta International Airport.

Awards

• Ellison was honored with the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award in 1997.
• Ellison was accepted into the Bay Area Business Hall of Fame in 2013.
• In appreciation of Ellison's strong backing over the years, the USC Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine presented Ellison with the first Rebels with A Cause Award in 2019.
• Time magazine listed Ellison as one of the top 100 influential people in the world in 2024.

Frequently Asked Question:

How did Larry Ellison get so rich?

The fifth-richest person in the world, Larry Ellison, is renowned for using just $2,000 to create the massive software company Oracle in 1977. Currently valued at over $300 billion, Ellison spends most of his time on his island.

What is the salary of CEO of Oracle?

In the US, the average yearly salary for an Oracle Executive is roughly $127,980, 42% more than the national average.

How rich is Oracle?

An interactive graph displays Oracle's net worth over the past ten years. Market capitalization, or the current stock price multiplied by the number of outstanding shares, is generally used to determine a company's value. Oracle's net worth was $337.82 billion as of May 24, 2024.