Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison briefly wrested the title of the world's richest person from Elon Musk early Wednesday, according to Bloomberg, as his software giant's stock rocketed by over a third in minutes.
The 81-year-old college dropout is now estimated to be worth $393 billion by Bloomberg, surpassing Musk after his four-year reign at the top.
Meanwhile, shares in Musk's major holding, Tesla, have moved in the opposite direction, declining 14 per cent this year.
Ellison's ascent was propelled by a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle, driven by multi-billion-dollar customer orders amidst the intensifying global race for artificial intelligence.
However, not all wealth trackers agree. Forbes, another prominent tracker, still places Musk at the pinnacle with an estimated $439 billion, compared to Bloomberg′s $385 billion for him.
The disparity largely stems from differing methodologies in valuing Musk's private holdings, including his rocket company SpaceX.
With Ellison's surging fortune on Wednesday, he could fund the lifestyles of 5 million American families for a year, about the entire population of Florida, allowing them to all quit their jobs, assuming the US median household income.
Or Ellison could just tell all of South Africa to take a vacation for year and produce nothing, based on its gross domestic product.
The news comes as Elon Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire under a new proposed payment package at Tesla – if the chief executive hits a series of ambitious targets across the next decade.
The South African-born entrepreneur could be handed a deal worth more than $1 trillion (£740bn) if shareholders vote through board proposals.
Based on current market capitalisation values, it would make Mr Musk worth more than all but the six or seven biggest public companies on the planet.
Achieving the terms of the deal would almost certainly make Tesla the biggest business in the world, as one of the terms included is to grow the company’s market value to $8.5 trillion (£6.3 trillion) from the $1.1 trillion figure it stands at today. Chipmaker Nvidia is presently the only firm bigger than $4 trillion.
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