Larry Ellison Once Said He 'Had All The Disadvantages Necessary For Success' As He Aimed To Beat Amazon In Cloud — Where The Oracle CEO Stands Today
Larry Ellison, Oracle's co-founder and CTO, attributes his success in cloud computing to his challenging upbringing. Oracle's recent earnings report shows significant growth, with cloud revenue up 27% year-over-year and a 52% increase in cloud infrastructure revenue. Despite Amazon's dominance in the market, Oracle is making strides, particularly in multicloud database revenue. Ellison's net worth has surged to $307 billion, making him the second-richest person globally. Oracle's stock has also seen substantial gains, rising 54.45% year-to-date.
Larry Ellison, Oracle Corporation's ORCL co-founder and current CTO, once credited his tough upbringing for his ambition to surpass Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN in cloud computing — and the latest numbers show he may be gaining ground.
All The Disadvantages Necessary For Success: Oracle CTO
In a 2018 interview with Fox News, Ellison reflected on his journey from humble beginnings on Chicago's South Side to becoming one of the richest people in the world.
"I had all the disadvantages necessary for success," Ellison said, explaining how his challenging upbringing and curiosity led him to Silicon Valley and eventually to founding Oracle.
"My original goal when we started Oracle was to build a company of 50 people I liked working with," he said. "It got a little bigger than that — we have 150,000 people now."
Ellison, who dropped out of college and worked as a programmer, said his ultimate goal is simple, saying, "We want to make sure we beat Amazon in cloud database."
Oracle's Cloud Business Shows Momentum
Oracle's push to take on Amazon Web Services is starting to show results.
In its fourth-quarter earnings, Oracle posted revenue of $15.9 billion, beating Wall Street expectations. The company's cloud infrastructure revenue rose 52% to $3 billion, while overall cloud revenue reached $6.7 billion — up 27% year-over-year.
Significantly, Oracle reported a 115% quarter-over-quarter increase in multicloud database revenue from major partners like Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Consumption revenue from Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) also jumped 62% during the quarter.
Amazon Remains A Giant, But Oracle Is Catching Up
While Oracle's cloud business is growing fast, Amazon remains the dominant player. AWS brought in $30.9 billion in the second-quarter revenue, up 17.5% year-over-year. Still, Oracle's growth trajectory suggests it's making inroads with enterprises seeking secure, multicloud solutions.
Ellison’s Net Worth Surges To $307 Billion
Ellison's strategy appears to be paying off personally, too. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth has reached $307 billion, making him the second-richest person globally, behind only Elon Musk.
Despite stepping down as Oracle CEO in 2014, Ellison remains chairman and CTO, continuing to shape the company's cloud vision.
Year-to-date, Ellison has gained $115 billion — the largest increase among the world's top 10 billionaires, which includes the likes of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who currently has a net worth of $244 billion.
Price Action: ORCL shares have surged 54.45% year-to-date and are up 100.01% over the past 12 months, according to Benzinga Pro.
Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that ORCL maintains strong momentum across short, medium and long-term timeframes. However, despite this sustained momentum, the stock’s overall value score remains relatively low. More detailed performance data can be found here.
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