Tech billionaires: Oracle founder almost as rich as Musk

Following a jump in the share price of software giant Oracle , 81-year-old founder Larry Ellison is moving closer to Elon Musk on the list of the world's richest people. According to calculations by the financial service Bloomberg, Ellison's fortune increased by $70 billion in after-hours trading due to the surge. In the Bloomberg rankings, Ellison now has an estimated fortune of $364 billion and Musk's $384 billion, it said. Oracle shares rose nearly 30 percent in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

The tech giant had thrilled investors with its forecast for the development of its cloud business. In the last quarter, cloud infrastructure revenue grew by 55 percent year-on-year to $3.3 billion. However, Oracle forecast a 77 percent increase to $18 billion for the current fiscal year. And for the fiscal year ending at the end of May 2030, the company is targeting cloud revenue of $144 billion.

Tesla CEO Musk was recently considered by far the richest person in the world, largely thanks to his stake in the electric car manufacturer. Ellison's fortune consists primarily of Oracle shares. The billionaire rankings are based on estimates. Oracle senses a big business opportunity in data centers for artificial intelligence applications. The company plans to supply ChatGPT developer OpenAI with cloud computing power on a large scale in the future. Current customers include TikTok and chip giant Nvidia.