Elon Musk Loses, Regains World’s Richest Man Title, Dangote Gets New Ranking
- For a moment, Elon Musk lost his title as the richest man in the world to Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle
- Ellison enjoyed an unprecedented jump in his net worth after his software company unexpectedly struck a cloud infrastructure business deal
- He is now just a step away from Elon Musk’s total net worth, and it may only be a matter of time before he becomes number one again
Legit.ng journalist Dave Ibemere has over a decade of experience in business journalism, with in-depth knowledge of the Nigerian economy, stocks, and general market trends.
Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, has emerged as Elon Musk’s closest challenger for the title of the world’s richest man.
Over the years, Musk has battled several billionaires to retain his top spot, but this time he faces a formidable rival in Ellison, a close ally of US President Donald Trump.
Source: Getty Images
Data from Bloomberg billionaire index showed that Ellison net worth has increased to $383 billion and he has made over N100 billion so far in 2025.
He is just $1 billion away from surpassing Elon Musk again whose net worth stands at $383 billion as at Thursday, September 11, 2025
Elon Musk briefly lost title
On Wednesday, BBC reports that Ellison's wealth surged to $393 billion on Wednesday morning, surpassing Musk's $385 billion.
It has to bet against Ellison taking over the number one title again given the positive sentiment around his database software company's surprisingly rosy outlook for its cloud infrastructure business and artificial intelligence (AI) deals.
The company projected as part of its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday that revenue from its cloud business will jump 77% this year, to $18bn, with further growth expected in the coming years.
Oracle has reported a surge in demand among AI companies for its data centres, which helped push its stock dramatically higher.
It signed four multibillion-dollar contracts with customers in the last quarter and anticipates several more deals in the months ahead, chief executive Safra Catz said on Tuesday.
On the hand, Elon Musk's Tesla an electric vehicle maker which is a major source of his wealth has grappled with investor jitters over the Trump administration's rollback of electric vehicle initiatives, on top of consumer backlash to Musk's political involvement.
Source: Facebook
Dangote net worth rises
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, continues to be a prominent feature on the billionaire index, a feat he sustained after making over $88.5 million in one day, pushing his net worth to $28.9 billion.
Dangote is now ranked the 77th richest man in the world, 69 places above his closest African rival, Johann Rupert & family, who have a net worth of $16.8 billion and are ranked 146th globally.
2nd richest man in Nigeria loses over $500m
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Nigeria’s second-richest man, Abdulsamad Rabiu, chairman of BUA Group, has suffered a massive drop in wealth.
According to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data, Rabiu recorded a loss of more than $500 million on Tuesday, September 9.
Mike Adenuga and Femi Otedola also suffered losses.
Source: Legit.ng
