Elon Musk briefly lost his position as the world’s richest person on September 10, after Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison overtook him following a surge in Oracle’s share price.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ellison’s net worth rose to about $393 billion after Oracle posted strong earnings, while Musk’s wealth stood at roughly $385 billion.
The rally in Oracle’s stock was linked to growing demand for its cloud services business, boosted by the global race to expand artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The shift in rankings was short-lived, with market adjustments later in the day narrowing Ellison’s lead.
Analysts noted that fluctuations at the top of the billionaires’ list are common as fortunes tied to stock prices change daily.
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Musk, chief executive of Tesla, SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter), has held the top position for most of the past three years.
Though he has occasionally traded places with other tech leaders including Bernard Arnault of LVMH and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.
Financial experts said Ellison’s brief rise underscores how rapidly fortunes in the technology sector can grow or fall, depending on market momentum and investor confidence.