Larry Ellison at 81 years old: The world's richest billionaire and his new spouse are shaping an extraordinary phase of life

In September 2025, tech mogul Larry Ellison experienced a triumphant moment: he became the richest person in the world. With a net worth jump of over $100 billion in a single day, 81-year-old Elon Musk was pushed from the top — a turning point that reflects not only financial success but also hints at a new phase in his private life. That same year, Ellison made headlines for secretly marrying Jolin Zhu, a Chinese-American woman 47 years his junior. These two events — the economic triumph and the surprising new spouse — perfectly characterize the paradoxical life of this revolutionary entrepreneur.

From Forgotten Child to Silicon Valley Titan

Larry Ellison’s early life was anything but promising. Born in the Bronx in 1944, he was placed for adoption at just nine months old because his mother, who was only 19 at the time, couldn’t care for him. His adoptive parents were modest people; his adoptive father worked as a government employee. Young Ellison began studying at the University of Illinois but dropped out after his adoptive mother died. A second attempt at the University of Chicago ended after just one semester.

But this academic failure did not seal his fate. Instead, Ellison’s wanderlust took him across the U.S. He ended up in Berkeley, California, a hub of counterculture and emerging tech scene. Here, everything seemed possible — people appeared freer and smarter. The pivotal turning point came in the early 1970s when Ellison was hired as a programmer at Ampex Corporation. The company specialized in audio, video, and data storage. There, he was involved in a secret project developed for the CIA: a revolutionary database system codenamed “Oracle.”

The Birth of an Empire: Oracle and the Database Revolution

In 1977, Ellison, Bob Miner, and Ed Oates decided to start their own venture. With only $2,000 — of which Ellison contributed $1,200 — they founded Software Development Laboratories. Their bold plan: create a commercial database system based on insights from their CIA work. They simply called it “Oracle.”

Ellison was not the inventor of this technology, but he recognized something others overlooked: its enormous commercial potential. With unwavering determination and the entrepreneurial spirit of a fighter, he drove the expansion forward. From 1978 to 1996, he served as president, later also as chairman. A surfing accident in 1992 nearly took his life, but instead of retreating, he returned more determined. In 1995, he regained control and led Oracle for an entire decade. He stepped down as CEO in 2014 but retained the roles of Executive Chairman and Chief Technology Officer — positions he still holds today.

Over four decades, Oracle faced major challenges. The company initially dominated the database market but later lost ground in the cloud computing race against Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure. Yet, Oracle remained a key player in enterprise software.

The Late Victory: Why AI Infrastructure Propelled Ellison Back to the Top

On September 10, 2025, Oracle announced something extraordinary: multiple contracts worth hundreds of billions of dollars, including a monumental $300 billion partnership with OpenAI over five years. The stock market reaction was dramatic — share prices soared over 40%, the biggest single-day gain since 1992.

This victory was no coincidence. In summer 2025, Oracle underwent a major restructuring: thousands of employees in traditional sectors were laid off, while massive investments flowed into AI data centers. Oracle positioned itself cleverly as one of the main providers of the generative AI revolution. A former employee of an Ellison-backed startup later described it as “the perfect moment for a late entry” — the market was hungry for AI infrastructure, and Oracle had exactly what it needed.

The Family Empire: From Silicon Valley to Hollywood

Ellison’s wealth was not limited to himself. His son, David Ellison, made a bold move: he acquired Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS and MTV, for $8 billion — financed with $6 billion from the family coffers. With the father in tech and the son in film and television, the Ellison family now ruled an empire spanning both worlds.

He also did not shy away from politics. A well-known supporter of the Republican Party and major donor, he funded Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign in 2015; in 2022, he donated $15 million to Tim Scott’s Super PAC. In January 2026, Ellison appeared at the White House alongside SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to announce a $500 billion network of AI data centers.

Self-Discipline Meets Luxury: The Secret to Eternal Vitality

Ellison is a man of contradictions. He owns 98 percent of the Hawaiian island of Lanai, several luxurious villas in California, and some of the world’s most beautiful yachts. Yet, this passion for luxury is tempered by strict self-discipline.

Water sports are his greatest passion. His surfing accident in 1992 could have ended him, but he was undeterred. Instead, he shifted his energy to sailing. In 2013, he led Oracle Team USA to a legendary comeback at the America’s Cup — one of the most spectacular comebacks in sailing history. In 2018, he founded SailGP, a high-speed catamaran league that attracted celebrities like Anne Hathaway and soccer star Kylian Mbappé.

Tennis was another obsession. Ellison revived the Indian Wells Tennis Championships, turning it into a quasi-fourth Grand Slam tournament. A former manager reported that in the 1990s and 2000s, Ellison trained several hours daily — no sugar, only water and green tea, strict diet. At 81, he still appears energetic, about 20 years younger than his peers.

This discipline also extends to his new romantic chapters: his marriage to Jolin Zhu in 2024 was initially only known through a university donation document mentioning “Larry Ellison and his wife Jolin.” Zhu, educated at the University of Michigan and born in Shenyang, China, is 47 years his junior. The internet community joked about Ellison’s motto: he loves both the waves and love equally.

Legacy and Philanthropy: A Billionaire Planning His Future

In 2010, Ellison signed the Giving Pledge, promising to donate at least 95% of his wealth. Unlike Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, he prefers to work alone. In an interview with The New York Times, he explained that he values his independence and does not want to be influenced by others’ ideas.

In 2016, he donated $200 million to the University of Southern California for a cancer research center. Recently, he announced he would give a significant portion of his wealth to the Ellison Institute of Technology, a joint venture with Oxford University. There, breakthroughs in healthcare, sustainable agriculture, and clean energy are to be researched. “We will develop life-saving medicines, build affordable agricultural systems, and create efficient, clean energy,” Ellison wrote on social media.

The Eternal Fighter and His Next Chapters

At 81, Larry Ellison has proven that the tech mogul’s story is far from over. From an abandoned orphan to a revolutionary database pioneer to the world’s richest person — Ellison’s journey is unparalleled. His new wife, Jolin Zhu, marks another fascinating chapter in a life full of surprises.

The title of the world’s richest person may soon change again, but Ellison has left the world something much more valuable: proof that innovation, perseverance, and the willingness to swim against the current do not end with age. In a time when artificial intelligence is transforming the world, the story of this outsider from Silicon Valley shows that the lessons of older tech titans are far from fading.