Ellison briefly becomes world's richest after Oracle stock surge

Larry Ellison, the cofounder and executive chairman of Oracle Corporation, briefly became the world's richest person on Wednesday after the software company's shares surged following a stronger-than-expected quarterly report, lifting his net worth by more than $100 billion in a single trading session, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The jump came late Tuesday after Oracle announced robust sales and a bullish outlook for its cloud business, driving heavy afterhours and early-morning buying.

Oracle’s stock rallied more than 30 percent in afterhours trading and climbed further in early trade, with some reports showing gains of more than 40 percent and intraday highs near $346. The sharp move added roughly $300 billion in market value to the company, where Ellison holds approximately 1.16 billion shares, or about 41 percent of outstanding stock. Bloomberg estimated Ellison’s net worth at about $393 billion, surpassing Elon Musk’s roughly $385 billion on that index. Estimates of the one-day increase varied, with Bloomberg recording gains of about $101 billion as of 10:10 a.m. ET and other calculations placing the rise near $111 billion by 11 a.m. ET.