Why is he the new world's richest man and a former friend of Steve Jobs?
The new world's richest man, Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, is an unconventional entrepreneur.
With the explosion of the artificial intelligence era, two companies have become the biggest beneficiaries. One is NVIDIA, and the other is Oracle, the world's largest database software company.
Since 2020, Oracle has been growing for five consecutive years, with its stock price rising more than several times. It has surpassed many companies such as Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, and Google, second only to NVIDIA. As of the last trading day, its market value has reached as high as $830 billion.
All of this is closely related to Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, who is known as the "Crazy Man of Silicon Valley". As Oracle's market value soars, Larry Ellison's net worth has also skyrocketed. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Larry Ellison, the co - founder of Oracle, once had a fortune close to $400 billion, surpassing Elon Musk to become the world's richest man, attracting the attention of the global business community.
1
Why is it called "Oracle"?
I believe that many Chinese people who hear the name "Oracle" will be curious as to why a Silicon Valley technology company has such a name with Chinese characteristics.
In fact, neither the founder nor the startup project of Oracle was initially related to China, and the company was not originally named "Oracle".
The story dates back more than forty years ago.
In June 1977, Larry Ellison, along with his colleagues Bob Miner and Edward Oates, jointly invested $2,000 to establish a computer software studio.
At the beginning of the startup, Ellison's investment of $1,200 accounted for 60% of the company's shares, making him the undisputed soul of the team.
At first, this studio didn't have a decent name. It wasn't until 1979, as the commissioned orders gradually increased, that they officially named the company Relational Software Inc., abbreviated as RSI.
Since they were venturing into the unknown field of computer science, the three of them named the database project they developed Oracle, which means "oracle, prophet", symbolizing that this database software is the key to unlocking the unknown world.
In 1982, with the expansion of the business, they simply renamed the company "Oracle" to commemorate the software that brought huge benefits.
In 1989, Oracle, focusing on software, entered China and was the world's earliest software company to develop business in China.
As a common practice, foreign companies usually choose a localized name after entering the Chinese market. However, if translated literally as "oracle", it doesn't sound very in - tune with the local culture and even has some religious connotations, which is not conducive to promotion.
After consulting people who are well - versed in Chinese culture, Ellison and his partners set their sights on "Oracle Bone Inscriptions", a cultural symbol with strong Chinese characteristics.
The most common international translation of China's "Oracle Bone Inscriptions" is Oracle Bone Inscriptions, which roughly means "mysterious characters engraved on bones".
Coincidentally, the English name of "Oracle Bone Inscriptions" contains the meaning of Oracle (oracle).
The "Oracle Corporation" thought that the divination function of Oracle Bone Inscriptions has a mysterious meaning, similar to the concept of "oracle" in Greek mythology. Moreover, Oracle Bone Inscriptions are also a carrier of information, which is essentially the same as their business of data information storage and transmission. So they decided to use "Oracle Bone Inscriptions" as the Chinese translation of Oracle in China.
It has to be said that Oracle's choice of "Oracle Bone Inscriptions" as its Chinese brand name in China was a stroke of genius. It not only made Chinese users associate it with something familiar and increased a sense of intimacy but also added a bit of respect for the rather "high - end" database business at that time.
The Chinese name "Oracle Bone Inscriptions" has contributed greatly to Oracle's rapid penetration into the Chinese market and its becoming a well - known enterprise in the field of data software services.
In the 1990s, with the surging demand for databases from Internet companies, Oracle quickly rose and grew. At its peak, Oracle's share in the database market even exceeded the combined share of IBM and Microsoft.
A database is a software product used for storing and managing data. Together with the operating system and middleware, it is known as the "big three" in software and can be understood as a large - scale data warehouse.
Oracle's advantage is that, compared with its peers, it can achieve more efficient storage and rapid retrieval of massive data. As a result, it has dominated the Chinese data market for more than thirty years.
To this day, as the world's leading database software company, Oracle's products are widely used in key industries such as finance, healthcare, and retail, providing powerful technical support for global enterprises, including those in China.
However, in 2019, Oracle suddenly announced the dissolution of its Chinese R & D center, and more than 900 employees were laid off. This once - glorious American technology giant began to quietly withdraw from the Chinese market.
Many self - media cheered for this, thinking that this foreign company, which had monopolized the Chinese data market for many years, had finally "slunk away" in the face of the rising Chinese data enterprises.
But is this really the case?
2
An Unsmooth College Life
In June 2021, a data procurement deal worth 145 million yuan in China caught people's attention.
The tendering unit was the Postal Savings Bank of China, but there was only one bidding and winning unit - Oracle.
"Currently, multiple core production systems use the Oracle database for data storage and processing, and it cannot be replaced." The Postal Savings Bank of China seemed rather helpless in the announcement.
In fact, regarded as the industry standard, Oracle not only maintains its advantage in the global database market but also has extraordinary competitiveness in the current fields of cloud computing and AI artificial intelligence.
The person who created these glories is Larry Ellison, one of the founders of Oracle.
As the soul of Oracle, Ellison now has a net worth of $218.3 billion (about 1.56 trillion yuan) and is also the most controversial figure among the IT tycoons in Silicon Valley.
This is a computer genius who has never taken a single computer class and never obtained a college degree, but often becomes the protagonist of gossip news because of his rich love history and luxurious lifestyle.
For example, at the end of December 2024, the 80 - year - old Ellison made it onto the front pages of major American media again due to the exposure of his relationship with a 33 - year - old girl from Northeast China.
Before that, he had been married four times and was never short of beautiful women around him.
However, even though he has a Chinese girlfriend and has made a fortune in the Chinese market, Ellison's attitude towards China is not friendly. He once boasted, "Oracle will never train any Chinese data talent!"
All of this is closely related to Ellison's growth experience.
On August 17, 1944, Ellison was born into a poor family in New York, USA.
Ellison's father was a pilot, but he abandoned his wife and child before Ellison was born.
When Ellison was 9 months old, his 19 - year - old mother, having no source of income, had to send him to live with his uncle in the Jewish area of Chicago.
Because of this special family background, Ellison was introverted and withdrawn since childhood, and his heart was full of rebellion.
In 1962, Ellison entered the University of Illinois. However, he didn't stay there long. He dropped out in his sophomore year. Then he went to the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, but he didn't obtain a college diploma from either.
During his college years, Ellison was only interested in computer programming, but he had never received systematic professional training in computer science.
Many years later, he said, "A college degree is useful, but I didn't get one in college. I've never taken a single computer class, but I became a programmer. I taught myself programming entirely from books."
Ellison always liked to be alone during his student days. His classmates who knew him well described him as smart, energetic, but radical in doing things and extravagant in life.
Indeed, Ellison didn't focus on his studies in school, and his living expenses were limited. However, he was very particular about his clothes and always tried his best to make himself look different.
Even when he got married to his first wife after starting work and the couple's total monthly income was only $1,600, he still borrowed money to buy a small yacht for entertainment.
As such things piled up, his wife thought Ellison was an incorrigible playboy and insisted on divorce.
Ellison was a bit reluctant and tried to persuade her, "I'll become a millionaire. If you stay with me, you can get whatever you want." But his efforts were in vain.
After the divorce, Ellison jumped to a small company that developed database projects for the CIA and was responsible for database construction there, still living a care - free life.
Perhaps Ellison's high - profile and extravagant lifestyle was a compensation for his formerly poor life, and it also showed his ambition to rise above the ordinary and make a name for himself.
Although his experience of studying in different places, which seemed full of regrets and failures to ordinary people, actually made Ellison more determined. It not only broadened his horizons but also made his thinking more active and agile.
However, without the booming information revolution in the 1970s, Ellison might have changed one or two more companies, earned a decent income, and quietly retired.
But if that were the case, it wouldn't be Larry Ellison.
3
Making a Comeback with Relational Databases
In 1976, IBM researchers published a paper titled "The R System: A Relational Approach to Database Management", which detailed the theory of relational databases and the SQL language.
A relational database is a collection of data items with predefined relationships between them, which enables faster data lookup and categorization. This was a huge innovation in the history of database programming.
However, although IBM published the paper on relational databases, it didn't conduct in - depth development on it. This mistake not only led to the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars in wealth in the future but also directly contributed to Ellison's success.
After repeatedly studying IBM's paper, Ellison deeply realized that the global computer industry was only focused on making money by selling hardware, while the relational database, which integrated various types of information, was the real gold mine.
In 1977, unable to contain his excitement any longer, Ellison, along with his colleagues Bob Miner and Edward Oates, founded a relational database R & D studio.
To emphasize that their database system was the most advanced relational database, Ellison simply renamed the company "Relational Software Inc" (RSI).
The goal of their startup was to develop a general - purpose relational database management system based on the theory of the R system in the database to serve high - end data - demanding customers.
By the way, they had previously been working on an important data project for the CIA, and the code name of that project was Oracle...
Because they thought the code name was cool, they used it as the name of the database version they developed.
In 1978, Ellison's studio launched the Oracle 1.0 version. Unfortunately, the design was too rough, and it could only perform simple relational queries and nothing else.
Facing the customers' crazy complaints, Ellison reflected and said, "Escaping difficulties won't bring me any chance of success and joy, but trying might. I may not be able to do everything, but at least I can do some things well."
In 1979, Ellison led his team to finally launch the improved Oracle 2.0 version. This was the world's first commercial relational database management system developed by a pure software company, and its performance was becoming more perfect.
Because of their background in cooperation with the intelligence system, Ellison sold this software to the CIA as an upgraded version of its intelligence management system.
However, the CIA at that time was not very satisfied with the Oracle 2.0 version and put forward many improvement suggestions according to its own needs. At the same time, it also said that the purchase funds would be paid only after it was satisfied with the new version after the trial.
It was obvious that it would be very difficult to come up with a new product in such a short time.
Facing the huge pressure and the shortage of R & D funds, Ellison made an important and crucial decision: to rewrite Oracle 3.0 entirely in the C language because the C language is supported by all machines.
To maintain the R & D, Ellison and his team took out all their savings and worked day and night. Finally, they completed the Oracle 3.0 software, which was recognized by the CIA. Oracle began to stand out and attracted the attention of the industry as a new force in the software industry.
Although they later won projects from the CIA, the government, and the military in succession, Ellison didn't have a long - term plan for the development direction of the RSI company at that time. It was still just a software contractor in nature.
Actually, this is quite normal. For any startup company, the most important thing is not how grand the goal is but how to survive first.
It wasn't until 1981 that Anil K. Gupta, who had worked at IBM, was invited to write the first business plan for RSI, which officially clarified the company's development direction, that is, to develop general - purpose relational database management systems and development tools.
Gupta has rich business management experience and later became a professor at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. He is one of the earliest advocates of the globalization strategy.
In 1982, since the database software Oracle of RSI was much more famous than the company name RSI, Ellison decided to rename the company Oracle.
Some people thought that the name change might affect the existing brand image, but Ellison said, "Every day is a new day. It's a stupid idea to think that you can't change."
At this time, Ellison was 38 years old, exactly one round older than Gates and Jobs, who were just becoming well - known in Silicon Valley at that time. He was a well - known "veteran entrepreneur" in Silicon Valley.
He rewrote the relational database management system, which was originally only