Larry Ellison: Biography and Story of the Founder Oracle Database Company

Larry Ellison is known as the founder of Oracle, a leading and largest database company in the world. Thanks to his efforts, Larry Ellison became one of the richest people in the world.

But who would have thought, behind the story of the founding of Oracle as a company, there is an inspiring story from Larry Ellison which is full of struggle. How could this man not have dropped out of school and succeeded in founding the largest database company in the world? What’s the story?

Larry Ellison Biography

His full name is Lawrence Joseph Ellison, born in America on August 17, 1944. While children his age in America live happily, in contrast to Larry Ellison, since childhood, his life can be said to be far from pleasant. Stay up-to-date with Deltsapure! Provide accurate and updated news for readers.

At only 9 months old, he was diagnosed with pneumonia by doctors. For this reason, he was later adopted by his uncle and aunt at the request of his mother who lives in Chicago. Together with his uncle and aunt, little Larry Ellison felt a peaceful life.

He then attended Eugene Field Elementary School, equivalent to elementary school. After graduating, he then entered Sullivan High School but moved to South Shore. At school, the founder of Oracle was known as an intelligent person.

His grades are quite good in natural sciences and mathematics. But all his behavior changed when he found out that the people who had cared for him all this time were not his biological parents.

Early Life

Even though his behavior has changed, his performance at school is still quite good. After graduating from school, he then entered the Physics department at Illinois University. But his studies did not end there, because his adoptive mother, who paid for his tuition, died. Finally he stopped and tried to work odd jobs with his adoptive father.

Not long afterward he returned to study at Chicago University, but only lasted six months and then stopped due to financial problems.

Journey

Because of his strong motivation to survive, he then tried to take a computer course. With this capital, he then tried to apply for jobs in various companies.

However, almost all the companies he applied to rejected him because he only had a course diploma. But from there his struggle was not in vain, an investment company called Fireman’s Fund accepted him as a computer technician.

From here his experience increased as he often repaired damaged computer hardware and fixed software problems. He then decided to quit and move to work at Wells Fargo Bank.

Getting to know the Database at Ampex

Here he also worked as a technician and was also skilled at his work, but the problem was, he did not get appreciation for his hard work, and then decided to move to Ampex where he worked as a programmer.

It was Ampex that inspired Larry Ellison to found Oracle, which would later become the largest database company in the world. At Ampex, he read an article about database theory. The article was written by Edgar F. Codd.

Founded Oracle Company

This is where Larry Ellison’s idea emerged to build a business with the concept of “Structured Query Language” or better known as SQL. He named this project Oracle.

From here, his business continued by establishing a software development company with his friends Ed Qates and Robert Miner, who was none other than Larry’s boss at Ampex. With only $2000 in capital at that time, Larry Ellison’s startup company managed to get a big client, namely the CIA.

Apart from handling the American Intelligence Service, namely the CIA, Ellison also handled the Wright Patterson Air Force Base aviation company and the computer company IBM.

Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison

Under the leadership of Larry Ellison, Oracle then transformed into a giant company that handles database problems. Even though it was hit by financial problems, the company still survives to this day.

Larry Ellison’s Oracle products are Application Server (Web DB, OAS), Development Tool (Oracle Developer, Oracle Designer), and Application Suite (Oracle Apps). The software they sell is widely used by many people and companies to handle databases.

Larry Ellison took Oracle to go public in 1986. At the time of the initial stock offering, Larry owned 39% of Oracle shares. Oracle grew to become the world’s largest supplier of database software. The company is also the second largest supplier of business applications in the world.

The Richest People in the World

Larry Ellison’s persistence also made Oracle the second largest company in the world after Microsoft. The success of the Oracle company as a leading database company in the world made Larry Ellison a billionaire.

Larry Ellison owns 22% of Oracle’s shares. Since 2003, he has earned approximately $9 billion dollars from stock sales and profit sharing from Oracle. As of 2024, Larry Ellison net worth is estimated to be around 139.7 Billion USD according to Forbes. Because of his wealth, Larry Ellison is included in the top 10 richest people in the world.