Oracle is expanding its cloud unit to compete with major players like Google parent Alphabet Inc. as demand surges for capacity to support artificial intelligence. The company, which Ellison co-founded more than 40 years ago, also announced a new agreement to make its namesake database available on Google’s cloud infrastructure when it reported earnings Tuesday night. It previously signed a similar deal with Microsoft.
Larry Ellison passed Sergey Brin and Steve Ballmer to become the seventh-richest person in the world Wednesday after Oracle Corp. reported “enormous” AI-related demand for its cloud infrastructure, sending shares to a record high.
Ellison’s fortune, roughly three-quarters of which is derived from Oracle, jumped US$14 billion ($18.89 billion) to US$152 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s his biggest one-day increase ever and pushes him ahead of both Google co-founder Brin and former Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Ballmer for the first time since December.
