Larry Ellison Drops to Fifth Place After Oracle Slide
Larry Ellison fell to fifth place on Wednesday night with a net worth of $247.8 billion after Oracle shares dropped 4% after hours, cutting his fortune by more than $10 billion. Jeff Bezos moved ahead to fourth place at $248.8 billion, putting Ellison behind him on the world’s richest list.
Oracle Shares Cut Ellison’s Lead
4% was the first after-hours move that hit Oracle stock on Wednesday, and the damage widened on Thursday when shares fell by double digits. Ellison owns around 41% of Oracle stock, so the slide hit his wealth almost immediately and left him with a smaller buffer than before against the next ranking change.
21% year-over-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter showed Oracle still expanded at a brisk pace, but the market focused on the guidance that came after it. Oracle reported record fourth-quarter revenue and beat analyst estimates on Wednesday night, yet the stock still sold off after investors digested the outlook.
Cloud Revenue Reached $5.8 Billion
93% cloud infrastructure revenue growth to $5.8 billion in the fourth quarter was the clearest operating figure in Oracle’s report. That pace, alongside Oracle’s $638 billion in remaining performance obligations, showed the business has a large backlog of future revenue even as shares moved lower.
27% to 29% guided first-quarter revenue growth and 57% to 63% guided cloud revenue growth were enough for Oracle to affirm its full-year guidance, but not enough to prevent the slide. If those targets hold, the company is still pointing to growth, yet the stock reaction showed that investors wanted more than a solid top line and a bigger cloud number.
Bezos Moves Ahead of Ellison
2025 had already shown how quickly the ranking can change: Ellison briefly passed Elon Musk to become the richest person in the world for part of one day. Wednesday’s drop pushed him back behind Jeff Bezos, while Musk continues adding to his net worth, and the gap now leaves Ellison at fifth place rather than near the top of the list.
41% ownership of Oracle stock keeps Ellison tightly tied to every move in the shares, which also means another sharp move can change the ranking again just as quickly. For now, the number that matters is $247.8 billion, because that is the level that put him behind Bezos and turned a one-day stock drop into a wealth reset.
