Eight decades of Larry Ellison: From a talented programmer to the most powerful man in the world and his wife Jolin

September 10, 2025, marked a historic milestone for 81-year-old Larry Ellison. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, on this day he overtook the position of the world’s most powerful financial figure, surpassing longtime leader Elon Musk. Ellison’s wealth increased by over $100 billion in just 24 hours, reaching an estimated $393 billion. His life story—from abandoned child to head of a tech empire—now intersects with a new chapter: his final marriage to Jolin Zhu and his increasingly strategic role in the era of artificial intelligence.

From Bronx Orphan to Global Tech Titan

Larry Ellison was born in 1944 into a modest family in New York’s Bronx. His mother, only 19 and unmarried, was unable to care for him. At nine months old, he was placed in the care of his aunt in Chicago. His adoptive father worked as a public administrator—his family lived simply, but with love.

As he grew older, Ellison gained admission to the prestigious University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. However, midway through his studies, his situation changed—his adoptive mother passed away, prompting him to drop out. He experimented with education, enrolling at the University of Chicago, but only lasted one semester. Dropping out was not a failure—it was his first step toward independent thinking, a trait that would define his entire life.

After leaving formal education, young Ellison spent years traveling across the United States. He worked as a freelance programmer in Chicago, then decided to drive west toward Berkeley, California. He describes this period as transformative—here, in the heart of counterculture and tech innovation, he finally felt at home. “People there seemed freer and smarter,” he later recalled.

From Secret Project to Global Database Empire

A truly pivotal moment came in the 1970s when Ellison worked for Ampex Corporation, a company specializing in audio-video data storage and processing. As a programmer, he participated in a key project for the CIA—developing an advanced database system codenamed “Oracle,” designed to enable efficient management and retrieval of information.

This experience planted the seed of his visionary genius. In 1977, 32-year-old Ellison, along with two former colleagues—Bob Miner and Ed Oates—founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL). The initial investment was just $2,000, with Ellison contributing $1,200. But their ambitions were far greater. They aimed to leverage knowledge gained from the CIA project and the rising popularity of relational databases to create a universal, commercial solution—naming it “Oracle,” directly referencing their past project.

Nine years later, in 1986, Oracle went public on NASDAQ, becoming one of the new stars in enterprise software. Ellison was not the inventor of the core technology but was among the few who recognized its enormous business potential and decided to bet everything on it.

The Rebel Spirit—Years of Domination and Transformation

At Oracle, Ellison held nearly every executive position. From 1978 to 1996, he served as CEO. From 1990 to 1992, he also served as chairman of the board. His rebellious nature and restless temperament became legendary within the company—always seeking new challenges, always willing to take risks.

He learned self-discipline and a hunger for challenge firsthand. In 1992, he nearly drowned surfing—a warning sign about his extreme pursuits. But the news of the accident didn’t deter him. In 1995, he returned to lead the company for another decade of intense work.

Oracle’s decades of ups and downs saw Ellison as a relentless king of databases, though in the early cloud revolution, it seemed too slow, losing ground to pioneers like Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure. Nevertheless, Oracle remained an essential player in enterprise software, with Ellison as its spiritual leader.

Late Compensation: Larry Ellison and the AI Era

Everything changed in 2025. On September 10, Oracle announced the signing of four strategic contracts totaling hundreds of billions of dollars. The most notable was a five-year deal with OpenAI worth $300 billion—billions for AI infrastructure.

The market reacted spectacularly. Oracle’s stock surged over 40% in a single day—the biggest jump since 1992. Tech sector comments were clear: a company once seen as a relic of traditional software now found itself at the epicenter of the new AI infrastructure era.

That summer, Oracle underwent significant reorganizations, laying off several thousand employees from traditional hardware sales and classic software divisions. Simultaneously, it heavily invested in data centers and computing infrastructure for AI. Oracle transformed from a “conservative tech player” into a “dark horse of AI infrastructure”—and the market went wild over this shift.

Family Dynasty: From Silicon Valley to Hollywood

Ellison’s wealth is now not just a personal legend but the foundation of a family empire. His son, David Ellison, recently made a spectacular move—acquiring Paramount Global, owner of CBS and MTV, for $8 billion. Six billion came from the Ellison family fund—an important sign of his father’s commitment to his son’s business ambitions.

This transaction opens a new chapter for the Ellison clan. Now they have a leader in Silicon Valley—the father—and a strong foothold in Hollywood—the son. Together, they are building an empire spanning technology and media content. The potential of this combination is enormous.

Political Influence and Future Vision

On the political stage, Larry Ellison has long been an active player. He has consistently supported the Republican Party and is among the largest political donors in the U.S. In 2015, he financially backed Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign; in 2022, he donated $15 million to Senator Tim Scott’s super PAC from South Carolina.

His current political involvement is even more significant. In early 2025, Ellison appeared at the White House with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, announcing an ambitious plan to build a network of AI data centers worth $500 billion. Oracle’s technology will be its key foundation—this is not just business but an extension of influence shaping the future.

Sports, Marriages, and the Secret to Eternal Youth

On a personal level, Ellison has always embodied a dual nature—luxury combined with discipline, adventure with a passion for control.

His estates are legendary: he owns 98% of Lanai Island in Hawaii, multiple residences in California, and some of the world’s most beautiful yachts. He has a deep, almost instinctive obsession with water, wind, and the sea. Surfing nearly killed him in 1992—but that extremity never left him. Instead, he engaged in top-level sailing.

In 2013, supported by him, Oracle Team USA achieved one of the most memorable comebacks in sailing history—winning the America’s Cup after a dramatic turnaround. He also invested in another project: in 2018, he founded SailGP, a league of high-speed catamarans that now attracts celebrities like actress Anne Hathaway and football star Kylian Mbappé.

Tennis is another passion. He revitalized the Indian Wells tennis tournament in California, which is now unofficially called the “Fifth Grand Slam.” For Ellison, sports are not hobbies—they are the secret to his phenomenal health. A former manager of one of Ellison’s startups revealed that in the 1990s and 2000s, Ellison spent hours daily exercising. He drank almost only water and green tea, never sugary drinks. His diet was strictly controlled.

This high level of self-discipline explains why, at 81, Ellison still exudes energy, often described as “twenty years younger than his peers.”

A New Wife, a New Chapter

In his personal life, Ellison has been married four times and had many affairs. In 2024, he married Jolin Zhu, a Chinese woman 47 years his junior. The news of this marriage emerged from a University of Michigan document listing Jolin and Larry as joint donors.

This marriage again drew media attention to his personal life. Jolin Zhu is from Shenyang, China, and graduated from the University of Michigan. Internet users joke that Ellison loves two things equally: the sea waves and falling in love—both are equally captivating and continue to inspire him.

Philanthropy: Giving in Proportion to Wealth

In 2010, Ellison signed the “Giving Pledge”—a commitment to donate at least 95% of his wealth to charity. Unlike many other billionaires, Ellison rarely participates in collective philanthropic initiatives. As he told The New York Times: “I value solitude and prefer not to be influenced by others’ ideas.”

His philanthropic projects are very personal. In 2016, he donated $200 million to the University of Southern California to build a cancer research center. Recently, he announced that part of his wealth will go toward collaborating with Oxford University to establish the Ellison Institute of Technology—focused on medical, food, and climate research.

He wrote on social media: “We want to develop new life-saving drugs, build low-cost agricultural systems for the global arid zones, and develop efficient, clean energy.”

The End of One Era, the Beginning of Another

Larry Ellison, at 81, has just become the richest person in the world. His journey—from a secret CIA contract, to building a global database empire, to a strategic role in the AI era—is an epic story of vision, courage, and resilience. With his wife Jolin Zhu and his son David’s growing influence in media, Ellison enters a new chapter of his life.

Wealth, power, marriages, sports, philanthropy—his life has never been dull. He remains the old “rebel” of Silicon Valley—determined, fierce, still embracing life fully. The throne of the world’s most powerful person may soon change hands, but the message from Ellison and his wife remains clear: even in an age where AI transforms everything, a legend from decades ago can return and triumph like never before.