Larry Ellison fell from the world's second-richest person to eighth in roughly two months, a slide that mirrors Oracle's stock plunge of nearly 40% since early June. The Oracle co-founder's fortune, which Forbes estimated above $300 billion on June 1, dropped to about $168 billion by the end of July, according to the same tracker. A partial rebound lifted it to $190.6 billion on August 12 after shares rose 2.6% to around $151, briefly returning him to seventh place.
The speed of the reversal is striking. Oracle shares hit an intraday high of $250 on June 1, propelled by a surge in remaining performance obligations (RPO) that reached $638 billion, up 363% year over year, on the back of multibillion-dollar AI contracts. Since that peak, the stock has given back almost half its value, closing at $150.52 on August 14. Market capitalization fell from $877.1 billion to $383 billion, a $494 billion contraction, before recovering to $438.3 billion by mid-August.
Ellison's roughly 40% stake — about 1.158 billion shares held through his family trust — makes his net worth a near-direct derivative of Oracle's share price. When the stock rallied in June, his paper wealth briefly topped $300 billion. When it collapsed, roughly $125 billion evaporated in a month. The same concentration that amplified gains on the way up magnified losses on the way down.