Bill Gates Falls In Billionaire Rankings Thanks To Red-Hot AI Stock Outpacing Microsoft

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, once the world's richest person, remains one of the wealthiest individuals globally. However, a skyrocketing stock tied to another billionaire has pushed Gates further down the list of the world's billionaires.

What Happened: The earnings report from Oracle Corporation ORCL was one of the top financial stories of the week, and shares being up over 10% on the week have given one billionaire more reasons to celebrate.

Larry Ellison is the co-founder, chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle. The billionaire owns around 40% of the company today, which makes up the majority of his wealth.

Oracle's soaring stock price has boosted Larry Ellison's wealth, pushing him ahead of Gates on the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index.

Ellison is now worth $168 billion, gaining $45.1 billion in wealth year-to-date in 2024. Gates, for comparison, is worth $158 billion, and has gained $17.2 billion in wealth on the year.

Ellison's year-to-date gains are among the largest of the world's richest, trailing only Mark Zuckerberg (+$51.4 billion) and Jensen Huang (+$51.0 billion).

Zuckerberg ranks fourth on the list at $179 billion and could be the next target for Ellison to pass. Huang ranks 18^th on the list, but continues to be one of the fastest risers in wealth.

Oracle stock is up 51% year-to-date, as seen on the Benzinga Pro chart below. Microsoft, for comparison, is up 14% year-to-date.

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Why It's Important: The strong stock performance of Oracle has helped boost Ellison's wealth and shows what large ownership from a founder of a company can do.

Huang also holds a large percentage of his wealth in NVIDIA, a company he co-founded and leads.

The world's richest person, Elon Musk has the majority of his wealth come from Tesla and SpaceX stakes along with other ventures.

Gates has a small ownership stake in Microsoft, and his portfolio includes stakes in other companies.

Oracle shares fell in July on news that Musk's xAI had ended talks about a potential server deal. Oracle reported quarterly earnings that showed strength from existing and recently announced partnerships.

Ellison's wealth could continue to climb if Oracle remains a leader in the AI space, but several of the billionaires ahead of him are also benefiting from the growing sector.

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