From Database Pioneer to World's Richest: How Larry Ellison's Fifth Marriage Marks a New Chapter at 81

On September 10, 2025, Larry Ellison achieved a remarkable milestone: officially becoming the world’s wealthiest individual with a net worth of $393 billion—surpassing Elon Musk’s $385 billion after a staggering $100 billion surge in a single day. Yet for this 81-year-old Oracle co-founder, this moment represents far more than a numerical achievement. The same year marked another personal transition: his fifth marriage to Jolin Zhu, a Chinese-American woman nearly five decades younger, quietly revealed through a University of Michigan donation announcement. Together, these events encapsulate the paradox of Larry Ellison’s life—a man whose relentless ambition spans boardrooms and boardsails, business empires and personal relationships.

The Making of a Tech Titan: From Abandonment to Oracle

Ellison’s journey defies conventional rags-to-riches narratives. Born in 1944 in New York’s Bronx to an unmarried teenage mother, he was adopted by a Chicago family at nine months old. His adoptive father worked as a government employee, leaving the household perpetually strained financially. Despite enrolling at the University of Illinois, Ellison’s formal education crumbled—first with his adoptive mother’s death during his sophomore year, later abandoned entirely after a single semester at the University of Chicago.

The real education came through wandering. After years moving across America, taking sporadic programming roles in Chicago before gravitating toward Berkeley’s counterculture tech scene, Ellison found his catalyst: a 1970s position at Ampex Corporation, a data storage specialist. There, he contributed to a classified CIA initiative code-named “Oracle”—a database system project that crystallized his vision of commercial possibility.

In 1977, the 32-year-old Ellison partnered with Bob Miner and Ed Oates to launch Software Development Laboratories, investing $1,200 of his own $2,000 stake. They transformed their CIA experience into Oracle, the first general-purpose commercial database system. Unlike the academics who invented database theory, Ellison possessed the audacity to monetize it. Oracle went public in 1986, ascending rapidly within enterprise software markets.

The AI Gamble: How Oracle Reclaimed Relevance

For years, Oracle appeared destined for obsolescence. The cloud computing revolution initially belonged to Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, leaving Oracle in their wake. The company’s database prowess seemed historical rather than futuristic.

Then everything shifted. In 2025, Oracle announced a partnership portfolio that rewired investor perception: five-year, $300 billion contract commitments, with OpenAI representing the largest chunk. Oracle’s stock price exploded 40% in a single trading session—its most dramatic single-day performance since 1992. The market’s verdict was decisive: Oracle had transformed from legacy software vendor into critical AI infrastructure supplier.

Simultaneously, Ellison orchestrated internal restructuring. Thousands of roles disappeared from hardware sales and traditional software divisions, while capital flooded toward data center construction and AI systems. The strategy worked. Analysts now classify Oracle as an unexpected “dark horse” in generative AI, a company whose database foundations proved ideally suited for the computational demands of modern machine learning.

The Ellison Empire: Business Dynasty and Political Influence

Ellison’s wealth concentrates not solely in his hands but has crystallized into a multi-generational empire. His son David orchestrated Paramount Global’s $8 billion acquisition in 2024, with $6 billion sourced from family resources—a transaction signaling the Ellison family’s Hollywood ambitions. While Larry commanded Silicon Valley’s technology sector, his son conquered media, creating a two-front wealth empire.

Political influence rounds out the portfolio. Republican Party stalwart Ellison has bankrolled significant candidacies: Marco Rubio’s 2015 presidential campaign and Tim Scott’s Super PAC ($15 million in 2022). Most recently, he appeared at a White House ceremony with SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and OpenAI’s Sam Altman to announce a $500 billion AI data center network, positioning Oracle’s technology as infrastructural bedrock.

A Life of Contradictions: Discipline Meets Indulgence

The contradiction embedded in Ellison’s persona fascinates observers. Ascetic habits coexist with extravagant acquisitions. He controls 98% of Hawaii’s Lanai island and maintains a portfolio of California estates alongside some planet’s finest yachts. His fixation on water ventures beyond possession—surfing nearly killed him in 1992, yet he never abandoned the sport. Instead, he redirected his aquatic obsession toward professional sailing.

His 2013 sponsorship of Oracle Team USA’s America’s Cup victory—engineered through a legendary comeback—cemented sailing’s centrality in his identity. By 2018, he founded SailGP, a high-speed catamaran league that enlisted celebrity investors including actress Anne Hathaway and footballer Kylian Mbappé.

Underneath the hedonistic surface lies rigorous self-discipline. Former executives describe Ellison in his peak decades consuming hours daily through rigorous exercise, abstaining from sugary beverages (water and green tea only), and maintaining austere dietary protocols. The result: an 81-year-old whose physical vitality appears two decades junior to his chronological age.

Love and Marriage: Five Unions and Counting

Ellison’s romantic history reads like serialized fiction. Four previous marriages preceded 2024’s surprise wedding to Jolin Zhu, marking his fifth matrimonial venture. The announcement surfaced obliquely—a University of Michigan donor document mentioning “Larry Ellison and his wife, Jolin” revealed the union publicly. Zhu, born in Shenyang and educated at University of Michigan, represents a 47-year age gap that internet observers interpreted through humor: “Ellison loves surfing and dating with equal passion.”

For Ellison, matrimonial commitments apparently follow entrepreneurial logic—rapid execution, frequent pivoting, unwavering forward momentum. His current spouse joins a legacy of unions, yet the very concept of his fifth marriage signals something beyond personal narrative: it reflects an individual who refuses conventional constraint.

Philanthropy: The Ellison Method

In 2010, Ellison signed the Giving Pledge, committing to donate 95% of accumulated wealth. Yet unlike peers such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, he resists institutional collaboration. As The New York Times documented, Ellison “treasures solitude and rejects external influence over his vision.”

His 2016 University of Southern California cancer research endowment ($200 million) exemplified his approach: independent design rather than consensus building. Recently, he committed resources to the Ellison Institute of Technology, a joint Oxford University venture targeting healthcare innovations, agricultural systems, and clean energy development. His articulated mission: designing next-generation pharmaceuticals, constructing low-cost farming infrastructure, and engineering efficient sustainable power.

Ellison’s philanthropic philosophy mirrors his business philosophy—unilateral decision-making guided by personal conviction rather than donor community consensus.

The Unfinished Story

At 81, Larry Ellison finally wears the world’s richest man title. His trajectory began with a CIA contract, crystallized into a global database empire, and recently capitalized on artificial intelligence’s infrastructure demands through prescient repositioning. His fifth marriage to Jolin Zhu represents his personal present; his Oracle stake represents his commercial future.

Whether through business ruthlessness, sporting spectacles, multiple matrimonial chapters, or philanthropic initiatives, Ellison remains perpetually positioned at civilization’s dramatic center. He embodies the last generation of first-principle entrepreneurs—those who built empires through vision rather than algorithms, intuition rather than data science.

The title of world’s richest man may rotate again. But Ellison’s legacy—whether through Oracle’s technological foundations or his relentless, contradictory, unapologetically ambitious life—has already transcended billionaire rankings. He represents an era of tech leadership that remains unfinished, still writing its final chapters at an age when most contemplate retirement.