Larry Ellison: Is there a single family office?

Where does the fortune of Larry Ellison come from?

Lawrence Joseph Ellison is an American businessman and philanthropist who co-founded the Oracle Corporation. He began his studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and later transferred to the University of Chicago, where he first encountered computer design. While working at Ampex, an electronics company, in the 1970s, Ellison was influenced by a theoretical paper on relational databases, which led to the creation of Oracle’s predecessor in 1977. Together with Bob Miner and Ed Oates, Ellison’s company developed a database system to compete with Sybase and Microsoft SQL. Oracle’s huge success made Ellison one of the richest people in the world, with an estimated net worth of $141 billion in 2024.

How did Ellison’s company Oracle develop?

In June 1977, Software Development Laboratories was founded by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates. The first database system, Oracle, was developed. In 1979 the company was renamed “Relational Software” and moved to Menlo Park. In the years that followed, the company acquired many other technology-based companies that added to its value. One of its most famous acquisitions was Hyperion, which it bought in 2007 for $3.3 billion. The merger was the largest transaction in the business intelligence market at the time. In 2010, Oracle won a lawsuit against SAP, its biggest rival, for violating intellectual property rights, which resulted in SAP paying Oracle $1.3 billion. Today, Oracle is ranked 299th on the 2024 Fortune 500 list, with revenues of nearly $50 billion and more than 159,000 employees.

Is there a Larry Ellison family office?

Yes, there is. But it’s one of the most secret. “The Lawrence J Ellison Revocable Trust”, based in Walnut Creek, serves as the personal single family office of Larry Ellison. The firm is known to be a venture capital and private equity investor.

How does the Ellison family office invest?

Although not much is known about the Lawrence J Ellison Revocable Trust, in 2008 it acquired a stake in Theranos, a consumer health technology company. In 2019, it was revealed that Ellison holds a total of 3 million Tesla shares through his family office, making him the second largest shareholder. Ellison’s philanthropic needs are met by the Lawrence Ellison Foundation, which supports basic biomedical research on aging relevant to understanding developmental processes across the lifespan and age-related diseases and disabilities.

This article is part of our detailed report “The single family offices of the richest US families“.

Picture source: Taylor Vick.