The boss of technology giant Oracle took advantage of a huge stock market boost on Wednesday to snatch the top spot from the boss of X and Tesla.

A stock market boost that propels him to the top of the pile. American multi-billionaire Larry Ellison overtook Elon Musk as the world's richest person after shares in Oracle, the company he co-founded, soared on Wall Street this Wednesday morning, September 10.

Larry Ellison, 81, is the largest individual shareholder in software company Oracle. Thanks to a $101 billion increase on Wednesday, the multi-billionaire's fortune now stands at $393 billion, surpassing that of Elon Musk, who has $385 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations.

Oracle's stock price soared 41% around 6 p.m. in Paris, a company he co-founded in 1977. The company delighted investors on Wall Street by announcing that its revenue from cloud infrastructure (remote computing) would reach $144 billion by 2030 - compared to $10 billion in 2025 - thanks to the growing need for the development of artificial intelligence (AI).

Buying a Hawaiian Island and Overwhelming Ambition

Larry Ellison owns more than 41% of Oracle, according to financial documents released by the company last September.

A colorful character, the tech magnate has never hidden his immense ambition, proclaiming in the late 1990s that he would make Microsoft obsolete, then more recently promising to dethrone Amazon in the cloud.

Larry Ellison held various leadership positions at Oracle, including president from 1978 to 1996, CNN reports. He also served as chairman of the board twice, from 1990 to 1992. In 2014, Larry Ellison stepped down as Oracle CEO and was appointed executive chairman of the board and chief technology officer, both of which he currently holds.

In 2012, Larry Ellison also purchased 98% of Lana'i, Hawaii's sixth largest island, the same island where Bill and Melinda Gates were married.

Close to Trump and Musk's "mentor"

A longtime Republican sympathizer, he became close to Donald Trump during the real estate developer's first presidential campaign. He also placed Oracle executives on the team tasked with preparing Trump for office in 2016.

Even Elon Musk maintains a close relationship with Larry Ellison, explains the British media outlet The Guardian. And the Oracle boss is sometimes even described as his "mentor." The latter even sat on Tesla's board of directors between 2018 and 2022 and invested $1 billion in Musk's purchase of Twitter, which has since become X.

Elon Musk can rest assured, however: in the long term, he should cement his position as the world's richest man. He's poised to earn a fortune exceeding $1 trillion if he leads Tesla to victory, thanks to the new compensation plan devised by the electric vehicle manufacturer's board of directors. This plan, however, remains subject to shareholder approval, which will be reviewed at Tesla's annual general meeting on November 6.