He was given up as a baby, dropped out of college twice, and was once told he was "good for nothing" by his adoptive father. Yet in September 2025, Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, surpassed Elon Musk to become the richest person in the world.
Born in the Bronx and adopted by his aunt and uncle in Chicago, Larry Ellison grew up in a modest apartment on the South Side. He didn't know he was adopted until he was twelve. His adoptive father, an auditor, often clashed with the fiercely independent boy. Still, Ellison excelled in science and math, so much so that he was named science student of the year at the University of Illinois.
But life had other plans. During his second year of college, his adoptive mother passed away. Grief-stricken, he dropped out. He tried again at the University of Chicago but left after one semester. To his father, it looked like failure. To Ellison, it was the beginning of a different education.
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With little more than a basic knowledge of programming, Ellison drove to Berkeley, California. For eight years, he held tech jobs at Fireman's Fund, Wells Fargo and eventually Amdahl Corporation. It was there that he helped build the first IBM-compatible mainframe system, but he dreamt bigger.
In 1977, he and two colleagues started Software Development Labs. They had a vision to build a revolutionary database system based on a concept called SQL, which even IBM had overlooked. They landed a contract to build a system for the CIA, codenamed Oracle, and delivered it a year early. That early finish gave them time to refine the product for the commercial market. They called it Oracle, too.
By 1986, Oracle went public but rapid growth came with risk. The company overstated revenues and nearly collapsed in 1990. Ellison made tough changes by bringing in experienced managers, focusing on innovation and releasing Oracle 7, which became an industry standard.
Ellison's true genius lay in seeing the future before others did. He pushed Oracle into internet-based business applications and made bold acquisitions, including PeopleSoft, Siebel and Sun Microsystems which turned Oracle into a tech titan.
In September 2025, Oracle's value soared by over $200 billion due to demand in artificial intelligence. Ellison’s stake reached $389 billion, making him the richest person on Earth.
From a boy who didn't belong, he built a legacy of belonging through technology, risk and relentless belief.
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