World’s Richest List has a new No. 2, the technology company behind him and why its market value is soaring

Oracle founder Larry Ellison has surpassed Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to claim the No. 2 spot on the world’s richest list, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bezos had held the position for nearly eight years, with Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg briefly occupying it at times. Bloomberg notes that Ellison’s wealth surged by over $20 billion this week, fueled by a record-high Oracle Corp. stock price.

Oracle’s shares jumped 13% to $199.85 at Thursday’s close in New York, marking the largest single-day gain in a year, after the company forecasted a 70% increase in cloud infrastructure sales for the fiscal year, Bloomberg reports.