Elon Musk is no longer the richest man in the world
Today is a landmark day in global financial history, as Elon Musk is no longer the richest man in the world.
The controversial Tesla founder has topped global rich lists for several years now, thanks to growth in the electronic vehicles market, acquiring social media platform X, and securing lucrative government contracts with his company SpaceX.
For a while now, it seemed like the 54-year-old would remain the wealthiest of the ultra-wealthy... until a random Wednesday in mid-September changed everything.
Following a boom in stocks for technology company Oracle, its co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison saw his 41 percent share in the company boom by a whopping 40 percent, according to Bloomberg, making it the biggest single-day increase in the history of the Bloomberg index.
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Translate stocks into numbers, and Ellison's net worth skyrocketed by $101 billion (£74 billion) to $393 billion (£290 billion).
This means he is now ahead of Musk's $384 billion (£283 billion) fortune and now has the honour of referring to himself as the world's richest man.
Meanwhile, Musk will have to settle for second place, like it really matters when you have more money than you'll ever need in life.
Who is Larry Ellison?
Born in New York in 1944, Ellison made his fortune as the co-founder of Oracle, a multinational technology company which deals with database software and cloud computing software.
This may sound very dull on the surface, but when you consider the fact that everything is online these days, the business is unsurprisingly very lucrative.
According to The Guardian, Oracle benefitted from the rising demand for cloud storage among Artificial Intelligence companies such as OpenAI and ChatGPT, who need large datacentres to function.
Outside of his work at Oracle, Ellison also owns shares in Musk's Tesla, a sailing team, the Indian Wells Open tennis tournament and, controversially, 98 percent of Lānaʻi, the sixth-largest Hawaiian Island.
Ellison paid $300 million (£221 million) for the island in 2012, which is home to around 3,000 people, claiming he wanted to transform the place into a 'green utopia'.
Will Elon Musk be able regain his spot as the world's richest man?
Unlike the cash in your pocket, stocks and shares often fluctuate in value depending on demand and confidence, meaning that a boom in Teslas would easily move Musk back into first place.
The billionaire last lost his position to Jeff Bezos and LVMH tycoon Bernard Arnault in the past, before regaining the title for a further 300 days.
Topics: Business, Elon Musk, Money, SpaceX, Technology, Tesla, US News
Brenna Cooper