Larry Ellison
Lawrence Joseph Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded software company Oracle Corporation. He was Oracle's chief executive officer from 1977 to 2014 and is now its chief technology officer and executive chairman.
Larry Ellison
August 17, 1944
- University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (no degree)
- University of Chicago (no degree)
- Businessperson
- investor
Co-founder, executive chairman and CTO of Oracle Corporation[1]
As of March 2024, he is the eighth-wealthiest person in the world, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with an estimated net worth of US$130 billion,[2] and the fifth-wealthiest in the world according to Forbes, with an estimated net worth of $154 billion.[3] Ellison is also known for his ownership of 98% of Lānaʻi, the sixth-largest island in the Hawaiian Islands.[4]
Early life and education[edit]
Ellison was born on August 17, 1944, in New York City to Florence Spellman, an unwed Jewish mother.[5][6][7][8] His biological father was an Italian-American United States Army Air Corps pilot. After Ellison contracted pneumonia at the age of nine months, his mother gave him to her aunt and uncle for adoption.[8] He did not meet his biological mother again until he was 48.[9]
Ellison moved to Chicago's South Shore, then a middle-class neighborhood.[10] He remembers his adoptive mother, Lillian Spellman Ellison,[11] as warm and loving, in contrast to his austere, unsupportive, and often distant adoptive father, who had chosen the name Ellison to honor his point of entry into the United States, Ellis Island. Louis Ellison was a government employee who had made a small fortune in Chicago real estate, only to lose it during the Great Depression.[8]
Although Ellison was raised in a Reform Jewish home by his adoptive parents, who attended synagogue regularly, he remained a religious skeptic. At age thirteen, Ellison refused to have a bar mitzvah celebration.[12] Ellison states: "While I think I am religious in one sense, the particular dogmas of Judaism are not dogmas I subscribe to. I don't believe that they are real. They're interesting stories. They're interesting mythology, and I certainly respect people who believe these are literally true, but I don't. I see no evidence for this stuff."[13] Ellison says that his fondness for Israel is not connected to religious sentiments but rather due to the innovative spirit of Israelis in the technology sector.[14]
Ellison attended South Shore High School in Chicago[15] and later was admitted to University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and was enrolled as a premed student.[15] At the university, he was named science student of the year.[16][17] He withdrew without taking final exams after his sophomore year because his adoptive mother had just died. After spending the summer of 1966 in California, he then attended the University of Chicago for one term, where he studied physics and mathematics[15] and also first encountered computer design. He then moved to Berkeley, California and began his career as a computer programmer for different companies.[11]
Recognition[edit]
In 1997, Ellison received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[112][113]
In 2013, Ellison was inducted into the Bay Area Business Hall of Fame.[114]
In 2019, the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC honored Ellison with the first Rebels With A Cause Award in recognition of his generous support through the years.[115]
Ellison was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2024.[116][117]