The unexpected usurpation

September 9 marked a shocking event in the world of the super-rich: Larry Ellison, 81 years old, co-founder and executive chairman of Oracle, suddenly surpassed technology billionaire Elon Musk to become the richest person on the planet.

Ellison's net worth increased by more than $101 billion in just one day, reaching $393 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. This number surpassed Musk's $385 billion fortune.

The surge came from Oracle's better-than-expected quarterly business report, causing the company's stock to skyrocket 40% in just the September 10 trading session - a rare increase for a corporation with a market capitalization of nearly $700 billion.

Ellison, who owns about 40% of Oracle, has benefited directly from this rally. He is not only a tech entrepreneur, but also the owner of 98% of Lana'i Island in Hawaii, the resurrecter of the Indian Wells tennis tournament - dubbed the "fifth Grand Slam" - and has close ties to Donald Trump. Ellison was once considered a potential buyer for TikTok when the app faced a ban in the US.

Ellison’s new position, however, did not last long. By the morning of September 11, according to Bloomberg ’s update, Ellison had fallen to second place with a fortune of $383 billion, while Musk regained the top spot with $384 billion. This change reflected market volatility, as Tesla shares and Musk’s other assets recovered slightly.

ElonMuskLarryEllison GulfNe.jpg
Elon Musk and Larry Ellison. Photo: Gulf News

According to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, the situation is somewhat different: Ellison owns 387.6 billion USD, ranking second, while Musk leads with 436.1 billion USD.

However, Ellison's spectacular breakthrough has proven that the world's billionaire rankings today can change rapidly, closely depending on scientific and technological advances, especially in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).

Elon Musk became the world's richest man for the first time in 2021 thanks to the boom of electric car company Tesla (both robots and autonomous vehicles) and space technology company SpaceX. He has lost the title twice: the first time in 2021 to Bernard Arnault - CEO of LVMH, the second time in 2024 to Jeff Bezos - founder of Amazon.

But then, Elon Musk broke away and left the above billionaires far behind, maintaining an absolute leading position, with assets mainly from Tesla shares (about 13%) and SpaceX.

Ellison's surpassing this time shows that the race on the world's richest list has become more fierce than ever, thanks to the explosive growth in the technology sector.

Tech billionaire prospects in the AI ​​era

Oracle’s recent stock rally has been fueled by its leadership in AI infrastructure, with a string of huge deals pushing cloud revenue to record levels.

CEO Safra Catz revealed that Oracle signed four multi-billion dollar contracts during the quarter, with more expected. Notably, a July 2025 contract with OpenAI - the parent company of ChatGPT, to provide 4.5 gigawatts of power.

Demand for AI data centers from customers like Microsoft, Google, and startups has pushed Oracle’s backlog past $500 billion. As a result, cloud revenue has grown 45% year-over-year, pushing Oracle’s stock up 103% since the start of 2025. This has not only enriched Ellison, but also propelled Oracle into the “trillion-dollar club,” with a market capitalization exceeding $1 trillion.

The future of tech billionaires is tied to AI. Elon Musk could reclaim the throne and become the world's first person worth $1 trillion thanks to Tesla's massive bonus package.

Specifically, according to the new proposal of the board of directors in 2025, if Tesla reaches a market capitalization of 8.5 trillion USD in the next decade, Musk will have an additional 12% stake, equivalent to 1,000 billion USD. This goal requires Musk to promote areas such as robotaxi, Optimus and integrating AI into self-driving cars. If successful, Musk could become the first billionaire to reach the milestone of 1,000 billion USD personally by 2030.

Predictions for the world's richest billionaires by 2030 show AI entrepreneurs will dominate.

According to experts from Forbes and Bloomberg, Jensen Huang (CEO Nvidia) could lead the way with a fortune exceeding $500 billion, thanks to GPU dominance in the AI ​​market. Sam Altman (OpenAI) and other AI founders such as Demis Hassabis (Google DeepMind) could also have hundreds of billions of dollars in assets, in the context of the AI ​​industry adding $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

Newly emerging billionaires from China such as Pony Ma (Tencent) or Colin Huang (Pinduoduo) will also compete, with assets that can reach 300-400 billion USD if AI explodes in Asia.

Overall, the top 10 billionaires could own an average of 400-500 billion USD each, double the current amount, thanks to AI boosting economic growth by 7-10%/year.

The artificial intelligence industry is opening a new era for humanity. AI not only optimizes production, healthcare, and education, but also solves major problems such as climate change. By 2030, AI could create "one-person companies" worth billions of dollars, such as startups using AI to automate entire processes.

However, AI can also cause millions of workers to lose their jobs, increasing inequality as benefits are concentrated in the hands of the technology elite. Safety risks such as AI out of control ( AGI misalignment ) or abuse in cyberwar are also alarming. Elon Musk once warned that AI is "the biggest risk to civilization", requiring strict regulations to balance benefits and risks.

In short, the change of power between Ellison and Musk is just the tip of the iceberg in the AI ​​era, where technology not only creates wealth but also shapes the future of humanity.

Tesla shares fell 8% after Elon Musk announced the formation of the American Party . Tesla shares fell sharply in the first session of the week, causing Elon Musk's assets to lose more than 12 billion USD after the world's richest billionaire announced that he would form a new political party called the 'American Party'.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/elon-musk-mat-ngoi-giau-nhat-the-gioi-cuoc-dua-tai-san-1-000-ty-usd-nong-bong-2441422.html