Larry Ellison

Billionaire Larry Ellison is becoming artificial intelligence’s pre-eminent landlord. 

The mogul founded Oracle in 1977 and built it into a technology powerhouse, supplying the infrastructure and software that major organizations use to store, manage and analyze their data. Ellison remains Oracle’s largest shareholder with a roughly 40 percent stake, giving him an estimated net worth of about $180 billion, which makes him one of the richest people on Earth.

Today, Oracle is pivoting to AI, becoming a key player in building out the data centers that the fledgling technology relies on. 

At the White House last year, Ellison stood alongside President Donald Trump, Softbank’s Masayoshi Son and OpenAI’s Sam Altman to unveil a mammoth, $500 billion project to build data centers across the country. Later that year, Oracle signed a computing power contract with OpenAI, which is expected to generate $300 billion in revenue over five years starting in 2027. 

Despite the major deals, Wall Street has doubts. Fears are rising about a bubble forming in the AI sector as startups spend heavily without showing a clear path toward profitability. Since June, Oracle stock has dropped about 50 percent. 

Another point of concern is that Oracle is relying heavily on one customer, OpenAI. Oracle is financing these ventures by issuing roughly $50 billion in stock and bonds after banks, which are bound by regulations to act conservatively, grew queasy and struggled to syndicate loans.

But, for a mogul who has spent decades navigating market upheavals, this latest episode is likely just another bump in a long journey.

Beyond data centers, Ellison has amassed a real estate portfolio worth hundreds of millions of dollars, including an oceanfront resort near Palm Beach; the Hawaiian island of Lanai, along with its two luxury resorts; and the assets of Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, including a 2.6 million-square-foot studio where iconic TV shows like “Friends” were filmed.