Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, briefly overtook Elon Musk as the world's richest person this week. Ellison's wealth surged to $393 billion on Wednesday morning, surpassing Musk's $385 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. However, Musk quickly regained the title, edging back ahead by $1 billion.

Ellison, 81, co-founded Oracle in 1977 in California and served as its CEO until 2014. He currently holds the positions of chairman and chief technology officer at the company. Ellison was also a board member of Tesla from December 2018 to August 2022, owning 45 million shares before stepping down. Recently, he has aligned himself with former President Donald Trump and has been involved in Trump's $500 billion artificial intelligence project, Stargate. Additionally, Ellison has funded a $4.75 billion bid by his son to acquire Paramount and has been mentioned as a potential buyer for TikTok.

Ellison's wealth increase this week was driven by a significant rise in Oracle's stock, which jumped more than 40% shortly after the market opened on Wednesday. This surge was fueled by the company's optimistic outlook for its cloud infrastructure business and substantial AI deals with firms like OpenAI, Meta, Nvidia, and Musk's xAI. Oracle projected that revenue from its cloud infrastructure business would increase by 77% this year, reaching $18 billion. Ellison's net worth is primarily tied to his 41% stake in Oracle, so the stock's rise added approximately $100 billion to his wealth in just over half an hour.

Musk, who first became the world's richest person four years ago, has seen his wealth fluctuate largely due to his stake in Tesla. The electric car maker's stock has declined by 14% this year, contrasting with Oracle's performance. Concerns about Musk's political views and his previous ties to the Trump administration have affected Tesla's brand image, leading to investor apprehension. Despite these challenges, Tesla shareholders have proposed a $1 trillion compensation package for Musk if he meets ambitious targets over the next decade, which would be the largest corporate pay package in history.