Larry Ellison

Larry Ellison
Born	Lawrence Joseph Ellison 17 8, 1944
Birthplace	New York City, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Business executive, entrepreneur
Title	Co-founder, executive chairman and CTO of Oracle Corporation
Known for	Co-founding Oracle Corporation
Spouse(s)	Template:Plainlist

Lawrence Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American billionaire businessman, entrepreneur, and technologist who co-founded the software company Oracle Corporation, one of the world's largest enterprise technology firms. Ellison served as Oracle's chief executive officer from the company's founding in 1977 until 2014, when he transitioned to the roles of chief technology officer and executive chairman of the board. Over the course of nearly five decades, he built Oracle from a small database software startup into a global powerhouse in enterprise computing, cloud infrastructure, and business applications. Beyond the technology industry, Ellison has drawn public attention for his extensive real estate holdings—including ownership of approximately 98 percent of the Hawaiian island of Lānaʻi—his competitive sailing pursuits, and his involvement in major media and technology deals. In early 2026, Oracle's role as a key partner in the restructured ownership of TikTok's U.S. operations placed Ellison once again at the center of a significant intersection of technology and politics. Together with his son David Ellison, he has also expanded into the media sector through the acquisition of Paramount Global.

Early Life

Lawrence Joseph Ellison was born on August 17, 1944, in New York City. His mother, Florence Spellman, was a 19-year-old unmarried woman. After Ellison contracted pneumonia as an infant, his mother gave him to her aunt and uncle, Lillian and Louis Ellison, who adopted him and raised him on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in a middle-class Jewish household. Louis Ellison, his adoptive father, was a Russian immigrant who had changed his surname after arriving at Ellis Island.

Ellison has described his upbringing as modest but not impoverished. His adoptive father, who had lost much of his real estate holdings during the Great Depression, was a critical and distant figure, while his adoptive mother was more nurturing. Ellison did not learn the full details of his adoption until he was 12 years old, a revelation that had a significant impact on his sense of identity.

As a young man, Ellison showed academic promise but also a restless independence. He has spoken publicly about how his early encounters with computers captivated him, comparing the immediate feedback of programming to the instant gratification of competitive sports such as basketball. In a 2026 interview, Ellison explained that what drew him to computers was the clarity of outcomes: "You win or lose very quickly," he said, likening the experience to the scorekeeping in basketball that had appealed to him as a youth.

Education

Ellison attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was named science student of the year during his second year. However, following the death of his adoptive mother, he dropped out of college. He subsequently enrolled at the University of Chicago for one term but left without completing a degree. Despite lacking formal academic credentials, Ellison's self-directed education in computer science and programming would prove instrumental in his later career. He moved to northern California in the mid-1960s, where he began working in the nascent technology sector.

Career

Founding of Oracle

After arriving in California, Ellison worked at various technology companies, gaining experience in database programming and systems design. He was employed at the electronics company Ampex, among other firms, where he worked on projects related to data management. During this period, Ellison became familiar with a research paper by Edgar F. Codd, published by IBM, which described a relational database model. Recognizing the commercial potential of this concept, Ellison, along with co-founders Bob Miner and Ed Oates, established Software Development Laboratories (SDL) in 1977. The company's first major project was building a relational database management system for the Central Intelligence Agency, codenamed "Oracle." The company later renamed itself Oracle Systems Corporation, and eventually Oracle Corporation, after its flagship product.

Oracle's relational database was among the first commercially available products of its kind. The company's early growth was driven by the increasing demand for database management systems in government and enterprise settings. Ellison served as chief executive officer from the company's inception, setting its strategic direction and cultivating an aggressive corporate culture focused on sales growth and market dominance.

Growth and Expansion

Under Ellison's leadership throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Oracle grew rapidly to become one of the dominant players in enterprise software. The company went public in 1986, and its database products became the industry standard for large-scale data management in corporations, government agencies, and academic institutions worldwide.

Oracle's growth was not without turbulence. In the early 1990s, the company faced a financial crisis brought on by aggressive accounting practices related to revenue recognition. Oracle was forced to restate its earnings, its stock price plummeted, and the company narrowly avoided insolvency. Ellison responded by restructuring Oracle's management and tightening financial controls, a turnaround that is frequently studied in business case analyses.

Throughout the late 1990s and 2000s, Ellison pursued an ambitious acquisition strategy, purchasing numerous software companies to expand Oracle's product portfolio beyond databases into enterprise applications, middleware, and hardware. Major acquisitions included PeopleSoft (completed in 2005 after a hostile takeover battle), Siebel Systems, BEA Systems, and Sun Microsystems. The Sun Microsystems acquisition, completed in 2010, brought Oracle into the hardware business and gave it control of the Java programming language and the Solaris operating system.

Ellison was a vocal competitor in the enterprise technology marketplace and frequently engaged in public rivalries with other technology executives and companies. His combative approach extended to legal battles, most notably Oracle's long-running litigation with SAP over intellectual property theft and its separate lawsuit against Google over the use of Java application programming interfaces in the Android operating system.

Transition from CEO

In September 2014, Ellison stepped down as CEO of Oracle, a position he had held for 37 years. He assumed the roles of chief technology officer and executive chairman of the board of directors. Mark Hurd and Safra Catz were named co-CEOs. Ellison stated at the time that the transition would allow him to focus more directly on product engineering and technology strategy. Following Mark Hurd's death in 2019, Safra Catz became sole CEO.

Despite relinquishing the CEO title, Ellison has remained deeply involved in Oracle's strategic decisions. His compensation as CTO and chairman has been a subject of public discussion. Reporting by Equilar and other executive compensation tracking services documented his receipt of substantial stock option grants during his tenure as CEO. In 2009, Ellison received additional options grants, a practice that drew scrutiny from corporate governance watchdogs.

Ellison also settled an insider trading lawsuit related to stock sales, the details of which were reported by InfoWorld.

Oracle Cloud and Recent Strategy

In the 2020s, Oracle pivoted aggressively toward cloud computing, seeking to compete with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Ellison championed Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) as a next-generation cloud platform and positioned Oracle as a key provider of cloud-based database and enterprise application services. This strategic shift contributed to a significant increase in Oracle's stock price and market capitalization.

TikTok and Technology-Policy Intersection

In January 2026, Oracle became a central player in the restructured ownership of TikTok's U.S. operations as part of a deal valued at $14 billion that was designed to address national security concerns about the social media platform's Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Under the terms of the arrangement, Oracle joined a consortium of American investors and technology firms in acquiring a stake in TikTok's U.S. business. The New York Times reported that several of the companies and investment firms involved in the new American TikTok had ties to one another and to President Donald Trump. Ellison's relationship with Trump was widely noted in coverage of the deal, with Politico describing him as a "Trump ally." Slate published analysis characterizing the deal's terms as unfavorable to American interests.

Media Ventures: Paramount and CBS

By early 2026, the Ellison family's business interests had expanded significantly into the media industry. Larry Ellison's son, David Ellison, through his company Skydance Media, completed a deal to acquire Paramount Global, the entertainment conglomerate that owns CBS, Paramount Pictures, and other media properties. Axios reported that the father-and-son duo faced "an even bigger obstacle" after the dealmaking concluded: "proving they can run" a media empire.

The acquisition drew heightened scrutiny in February 2026 when incidents involving CBS News personalities Anderson Cooper and Stephen Colbert raised questions about editorial independence at the network. The Guardian reported that CBS News was "convulsing" under the new ownership structure, with columnist Margaret Sullivan writing that the incidents suggested the network was being shaped to align with the political preferences of the Trump administration, financed in part by Ellison's involvement.

Personal Life

Ellison has been married five times. His first marriage was to Adda Quinn in 1967; they divorced in 1974. He married Nancy Wheeler Jenkins in 1977, but the marriage ended in 1978. His third marriage, to Barbara Boothe in 1983, produced two children, David and Megan Ellison, before ending in divorce in 1986. Both children have gone on to careers in entertainment; David Ellison founded Skydance Media, and Megan Ellison founded Annapurna Pictures. Ellison married novelist Melanie Craft in 2003, with the wedding reported to have been officiated by his close friend Steve Jobs; they divorced in 2010. His fifth marriage was to Nikita Kahn, from 2015 to 2020.

Ellison is an avid yachtsman and has owned several notable superyachts. One vessel, built in Germany, was initially christened Izanami before Ellison had it renamed after discovering that reversing the name produced an unintended and offensive result. His interest in yachts and sailing has been covered extensively, including by Minyanville, which profiled his architectural and nautical pursuits.

Ellison is known for his interest in Japanese architecture and culture. His primary residence in Woodside, California, was designed in the style of a Japanese imperial estate, with traditional elements including koi ponds, wooden bridges, and period-appropriate structures. Ellison also maintains extensive real estate holdings. In early 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported that he sold a home on San Francisco's Pacific Heights for $45 million, a property he had previously remodeled.

Ellison purchased approximately 98 percent of the island of Lānaʻi, the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands, in 2012. The purchase included the island's two Four Seasons resorts and much of its infrastructure.

Sailing and the America's Cup

Ellison has been a competitive sailor for decades and was the driving force behind Oracle Team USA's participation in the America's Cup. In 2010, Oracle Team USA won the 33rd America's Cup and went on to defend the trophy in 2013 at the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco Bay. The 2013 defense was dramatic; Oracle Team USA came back from an 8–1 deficit to defeat Emirates Team New Zealand 9–8 in one of the most remarkable comebacks in sailing history. However, the campaign was marred by controversy. Prior to the start of the regatta, Oracle Team USA was penalized two points for unauthorized modifications to its boats, a sanction that added to the difficulty of the team's position. Ellison's competitive sailing activities have also been documented by Sailing Scuttlebutt and other sailing media outlets.

Philanthropy

Ellison has made significant philanthropic commitments over his career, though some pledges have not been fulfilled. In 2006, the Boston Globe reported that Ellison canceled a $115 million gift to Harvard University that had been previously announced. Ellison signed the Giving Pledge in 2010, committing to give the majority of his wealth to charitable causes during or after his lifetime. His philanthropic interests have focused on medical research, education, and wildlife conservation.

Legal and Regulatory Matters

Over the course of his career, Ellison has been involved in a number of legal proceedings related to Oracle's business practices and his personal financial transactions. He settled an insider trading suit that arose from allegations concerning his stock sales. Oracle itself was involved in the broader antitrust and competition landscape of the enterprise technology industry, including extensive proceedings during its attempted acquisition of PeopleSoft.

Ellison's role in the technology industry also intersected with the landmark antitrust case against Microsoft in the late 1990s. The BBC reported on connections between Oracle and the broader industry effort to challenge Microsoft's market dominance during that period.

Recognition

Ellison's career at Oracle has made him one of the most prominent figures in the history of the technology industry. His ranking among the world's wealthiest individuals, as tracked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes, has placed him consistently among the top five richest people globally. On September 10, 2025, following a surge in Oracle's stock price, Ellison was briefly calculated to be the wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $393 billion.

The New York Times has maintained a biographical topic page on Ellison, reflecting his status as a figure of sustained public interest over multiple decades. Coverage of Ellison in the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, and other Bay Area publications has documented both his professional achievements and his prominent role in the cultural life of Silicon Valley.

Legacy

Larry Ellison's impact on the technology industry is primarily defined by his role in making relational database technology the foundation of modern enterprise computing. Under his leadership, Oracle grew from a startup to one of the largest software companies in the world, and the Oracle database became a ubiquitous component of corporate information technology infrastructure across virtually every industry and government sector.

Ellison's management style—characterized by aggressive competition, rapid acquisition, and a willingness to engage in protracted legal and business disputes—shaped not only Oracle but also the broader dynamics of the enterprise software market. His acquisition strategy, which consolidated dozens of companies under the Oracle umbrella, transformed the company from a database vendor into a comprehensive enterprise technology provider and anticipated the platform-based consolidation that later became common in the technology industry.

His competitive intensity extended beyond business. The America's Cup campaigns he financed brought new technology, design innovation, and international attention to competitive sailing, while his ownership of Lānaʻi represented an unusual venture into community development and island stewardship.

As of early 2026, with Oracle's expanding role in cloud infrastructure, the TikTok deal, and the Ellison family's entry into media through Paramount Global, Ellison's influence extends across technology, media, and policy in ways that continue to evolve.