Larry Ellison, founder of information software giant Oracle Corp, is a classic rags-to-riches success story. Born in New York to a 19-year-old unwed Jewish mother and brought up by his great-aunt and great-uncle after his mother couldn’t support him, Ellison is now the ninth-wealthiest person in the United States and the tenth-wealthiest in the world, with a fortune of $93.9 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Ellison never finished college, but founded the company that would become Oracle with $1,200 of his own money at age 33. Oracle now has some 135,000 employees across the globe, and recorded a net income of more than $10 billion in 2020.
Ellison stepped down from his position as CEO of Oracle in 2014, handing over the helm to Israel native Safra Catz and Mark Hurd while he became the company’s executive chairman and chief technology officer. Since Hurd died unexpectedly in 2021, Catz has been the company’s sole CEO.
Oracle opened facilities in Israel in 1996, and currently employs some 400 here. Ellison visited the country for the first time in 2007, and has been a strong supporter.
“Larry and I are deeply committed to Israel,” Catz said earlier this summer on a visit to Israel. Oracle launched a massive new underground cloud data center in Jerusalem “because we love Israel and we know the country needs it,” he said.
(R-L) Oracle CEO Safra Catz and Bynet CEO Alon Ben-Zur at Oracle's Jerusalem cloud center (credit: EZRA LEVY)Ellison owns a number of impressive homes and properties, including a Hawaiian island and makes a sport of owning and driving fancy yachts and aircraft.
He is also well-known for his philanthropic activities. In 2010, he joined a number of billionaires pledging support for the Warren Buffett and Bill Gates “Giving Pledge,” under which he committed to give away at least 50% of his wealth. Ellison has separately said he will donate 95% of his wealth when he dies.
A close friend of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ellison has been named as a potential witness in the trial against the Likud leader as part of Case 2000, the alleged bribery affair involving Yediot Ahronot. Netanyahu and his family recently vacationed on Ellison’s Hawaiian island, Lania, which he purchased in 2012 for some $300 million.
Among his contributions to Israeli causes are more than $26 million given to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, as well as $500,000 to fortify a community center in Sderot in 2007.
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