Oracle Co-founder1944–present

    Larry Ellison

    The Adopted Son Who Built an Empire and Bought an Island

    Born Lawrence Joseph Ellison on 17 August 1944 in New York City, Larry Ellison was raised by adoptive parents in Chicago, dropped out of college and co-founded Oracle in 1977 — turning the relational database into a commercial product and building one of the largest enterprise software companies in the world.

    • 19 min listen
    • Oracle co-founder
    • Database pioneer
    • America's Cup owner
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    Larry Ellison’s full 19 min audio biography, The Adopted Son Who Built an Empire and Bought an Island, is available on Lyfestori for iOS. Listen to a free preview below.

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    A life in brief

    Larry Ellison: life and timeline.

    His unmarried mother gave him to relatives in Chicago when he was nine months old, and he did not learn he was adopted until he was twelve. Larry Ellison left two universities without a degree and drove to California in 1966. At Ampex he worked on a CIA-funded database project code-named Oracle. In 1977 he and two colleagues started a company to sell relational databases before IBM did. Oracle went public in 1986, nearly collapsed in 1990, and made him one of the richest people alive.

    1. 1944

      Born in New York

      Born 17 August to Florence Spellman, a young unmarried Jewish woman. After he catches pneumonia as a baby, she gives him to her aunt and uncle, Lillian and Louis Ellison, to raise in Chicago.

    2. 1956

      Told he was adopted

      At twelve, standing in the doorway between the dining room and the kitchen, he learns from his adoptive father that he was adopted. He would later describe Louis Ellison as a cold man who told him he would never amount to anything.

    3. 1966

      Drives to California

      After leaving the University of Illinois when his adoptive mother dies, and spending a single term at the University of Chicago, he heads to Berkeley at twenty-two with almost no money. He never completes a degree.

    4. 1977

      Software Development Laboratories

      With Bob Miner and Ed Oates, former colleagues from Ampex, he starts a company to commercialise the relational database model described by IBM researcher Edgar F. Codd. Ellison runs the business; Miner leads the engineering.

    5. 1979

      Oracle Version 2

      The first commercial product is called Version 2 — there was never a Version 1 — and one of its first major installations is at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The company is renamed Relational Software, and later Oracle.

    6. 1986

      Oracle goes public

      Oracle lists its shares in March 1986, a day before Microsoft. Revenue, about $2.5 million in 1982, is on its way to nearly $600 million by 1989.

    7. 1990

      The near collapse

      Aggressive sales tactics and booking multi-year contracts up front catch up with the company. Oracle restates its earnings, posts its first quarterly loss, lays off about ten per cent of its staff and faces shareholder lawsuits. Ellison later called it the worst mistake of his career.

    8. 2004

      PeopleSoft

      After an eighteen-month hostile takeover battle and a failed Department of Justice antitrust challenge, Oracle agrees in December to buy PeopleSoft for about $10.3 billion — the start of a long acquisition spree.

    9. 2010

      Sun Microsystems and the America's Cup

      Oracle completes its purchase of Sun Microsystems in January, taking over Java. In February his team wins the 33rd America's Cup in Valencia.

    10. 2012

      Buys Lanai

      He buys about 98 per cent of the Hawaiian island of Lanai, including its hotels and much of its land, and begins investing heavily in resorts, farming and wellness projects there.

    11. 2014

      Steps down as CEO

      In September, after thirty-seven years in charge, he hands the chief executive role to Safra Catz and Mark Hurd and becomes executive chairman and chief technology officer.

    12. 2025

      Briefly the world's richest

      On 10 September, after Oracle's shares jump on demand for cloud and AI computing, Bloomberg's index briefly ranks him the richest person in the world.

    Major achievements

    Larry Ellison: major achievements.

    • 01

      Commercialising the relational database

      IBM published the research but was slow to sell it. Ellison's small team shipped a commercial SQL relational database by 1979, ahead of IBM's own product, and the model went on to underpin most enterprise computing.

    • 02

      Building Oracle

      He ran Oracle as chief executive from 1977 to 2014 without early venture capital. It grew into one of the largest software companies in the world, serving banks, airlines, hospitals and governments.

    • 03

      Surviving 1990

      Rather than step aside after the accounting crisis, he brought in Jeff Henley as finance chief and Ray Lane to run sales. Within about two years Oracle was profitable again and passed a billion dollars in annual sales.

    • 04

      Growth by acquisition

      PeopleSoft in 2004 proved Oracle could win a hostile takeover. Sun Microsystems, NetSuite and the health-records company Cerner followed, among scores of other deals.

    • 05

      Two America's Cups

      His team won in 2010 and again in 2013 on San Francisco Bay, where Oracle Team USA came back from 8–1 down to win 9–8 — one of the great comebacks in sailing.

    Turning points

    Larry Ellison: defining moments.

    • Age twelve

      The doorway conversation

      Learning he was adopted, delivered as an aside, shaped his relationship with Louis Ellison for good. His adoptive father's repeated prediction that he would fail is the doubt biographers say he spent his career disproving.

    • Early 1970s

      A project called Oracle

      At Ampex he worked with Bob Miner on a CIA-funded database project with the code name Oracle. Reading Edgar Codd's relational model and IBM's SQL research, he saw a product that the company with the blueprint had not yet built.

    • 1990

      The restatement

      Oracle's growth had outrun its controls. The restatement, first loss and lawsuits forced Ellison to bring in disciplined managers and change how the company booked revenue — turning a reckless startup into an established enterprise.

    • 2014

      Out of the CEO chair, not the company

      Handing day-to-day leadership to Safra Catz and Mark Hurd let him concentrate on technology. As executive chairman and chief technology officer he steered Oracle into cloud infrastructure, and the AI data-centre boom later made it one of the most valuable companies in the world.

    What you’ll take away

    Lessons from Larry Ellison’s life.

    1. 01

      Build what the incumbent will not

      IBM had the theory and the research. Ellison's advantage was a willingness to ship it first, even skipping Version 1 so customers would trust the product.

    2. 02

      Growth hides problems until it doesn't

      The habits that doubled Oracle's revenue year after year — promising unfinished features and booking future sales early — were the same ones that nearly sank it in 1990.

    3. 03

      Bring in people unlike yourself

      Ellison's recovery came from hiring careful operators such as Jeff Henley to impose the discipline he lacked, not from doing more of what he already did well.

    FAQ

    Frequently asked questions about Larry Ellison.

    What is Larry Ellison's full name?

    Lawrence Joseph Ellison. He was born on 17 August 1944 in New York City and took the surname of Louis and Lillian Ellison, the relatives in Chicago who adopted him.

    What is Larry Ellison's net worth?

    About $166 billion, according to Forbes's real-time billionaires list (October 2026). Most of it is his roughly 40% stake in Oracle, which has fallen sharply from its 2025 peak; he also holds a large stake in Paramount Skydance, Tesla shares and nearly all of the Hawaiian island of Lanai.

    How did Larry Ellison make his money?

    Almost entirely through Oracle, the database company he co-founded in 1977 and has never left: he still owns around 40% of it and serves as chairman and chief technology officer. Oracle's surge on AI cloud contracts briefly made him the world's richest person in 2025, and he has used that wealth to back his son David's Paramount Skydance and to buy Lanai.

    Who was Larry Ellison's biological father?

    An Italian-American pilot in the US Army Air Corps, according to most biographical accounts. His mother, Florence Spellman, was young and unmarried when he was born, and gave him up for adoption at nine months.

    Where did Larry Ellison grow up?

    In Chicago. He was raised by his adoptive parents on the city's North Side and later in the South Shore neighbourhood, and attended South Shore High School.

    Did Larry Ellison go to college?

    Yes, but he never graduated. He left the University of Illinois after his adoptive mother died, then spent one term at the University of Chicago, where he first encountered computer programming.

    What did Larry Ellison do before Oracle?

    He was a programmer. After moving to California in 1966 he worked for companies including Amdahl and Ampex, where he worked on a CIA-funded database project code-named Oracle.

    When did Larry Ellison start Oracle?

    In 1977. He, Bob Miner and Ed Oates set up Software Development Laboratories, which was renamed Relational Software in 1979 and later took the name of its product, Oracle.

    When did Larry Ellison buy Lanai?

    In 2012. He bought about 98 per cent of the Hawaiian island, and moved there in 2020 during the pandemic.

    Why did Larry Ellison step down as CEO of Oracle?

    To focus on technology. In September 2014 he handed the CEO role to Safra Catz and Mark Hurd and became executive chairman and chief technology officer, roles he still holds.

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