Larry Ellison | The success story of this billionaire and co-founder of Oracle

Larry Ellison is an American businessman who is the co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of the software company Oracle Corporation. Currently, Ellison is the ninth-wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of $108 billion. He dropped out of two different universities to focus on his programming skills. From being a college dropout to becoming a high-tech billionaire, Ellison’s story is very inspiring. He faced several hardships while growing up and his adoptive father never supported his dreams. Ellison overcame all the hurdles and reached new heights. Here’s Larry Ellison’s success story.

Early life and struggles

Larry Ellison was born on August 17, 1944, in New York City. At the age of nine months, Ellison contracted pneumonia and his mother gave him away for adoption to her aunt and uncle. Soon, he moved to a middle-class neighbourhood in Chicago. While talking about his adoptive parents, Ellison stated his mother to be warm and loving while described his father to be unsupportive and distant. After attending high school, Ellison joined the University of Illinois as a premed student. In college, he was named science student of the year. However, he did not take his final exams after his second year as his adoptive mother died. Later, he attended the University of Chicago for only one term. There, he started showing interest in computer design and programming. Eventually, Ellison dropped out of college and moved to California at the age of 22. 

Larry Ellison’s career and Oracle

In the 1970s, Ellison started working for Ampex Corporation. In 1977, he founded a company called Software Development Laboratories (SDL) with two of his friends and a $2,000 investment out of which $1,200 was his own money. The three partners created and marketed a data-management tool. The CIA gave them a contract to construct a database and they started working on a commercial database programme. Oracle became the first company to use Structured Query Language (SQL) and their database tool became very popular. In the 1980s, the company grew rapidly and became the largest database management company in the world. 

With the rise of the Internet, Oracle created products that were compatible with web technologies. This allowed the company to expand even more. In the 2000s, Oracle made several multibillion-dollar acquisitions such as PeopleSoft, Siebel, BEA, and Sun Microsystems. On September 18, 2014, Ellison stepped down as the CEO and assumed the positions of chief technology officer and executive chairman. Oracle became the second-largest software company in the world in 2020. Currently, Ellison’s net worth is $108 billion, making him the ninth richest person in the world. Ellison is also a philanthropist and has made several donations. In 2010, he was one of the billionaires to sign The Giving Pledge. 

Lessons we can learn

From dropping out of two universities to becoming one of the richest men in the world, Larry Ellison’s success story is inspiring to several entrepreneurs all over the world. Ellison pursued his passion for computer design and created Oracle. If we are determined and hard-working, we can make our dreams come true. Hard work is the key to success. Secondly, we should always learn from our mistakes. “Great achievers are driven, not so much by the pursuit of success, but by the fear of failure.” -Larry Ellison

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