The friendship between Elon Musk and Larry Ellison is cemented by strong financial interests. The co-founder of Oracle has a $ 1 billion stake in Tesla, according to a financial opinion quoted by Bloomberg.
With 3 million shares held through a trust (1.75% stake), Larry Ellison is the second largest shareholder of the electric car manufacturer, behind his emblematic boss Elon Musk (who owns about 20%). Veteran of the business world, Larry Ellison has been sitting since the end of December board of directors from Tesla.
An admirer and friend of Musk
His appointment, like that of Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, was part of the sealed agreement between Elon Musk and the US market regulator (DRY) to stop an investigation for “fraud” against the boss of Tesla. This one was opened after Elon Musk had evoked last summer a possible exit of his company from the coast.
Larry Ellison has never hidden his admiration for Elon Musk and has publicly defended it several times in recent months. The businessman has so far acknowledged that Tesla was his second biggest investment, but without giving further details.
A fortune of 58 billion dollars
Seventy-four years old, Larry Ellison weighs 58 billion dollars (50.6 billion euros), according to the magazine “Forbes”. Coming from a modest background, he owes his fortune to the Oracle company, which he co-founded in 1977 and which is now one of the American giants of software, but whose the transition to the cloud is difficult.
Larry Ellison left the reins of Oracle in 2014. Besides Tesla, the famous businessman has also invested in the Oracle Team USA sailing crew, in real estate and created last year the wellness start-up Sensei .