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In September, Larry Ellison briefly overtook Elon Musk as the richest man in the world.
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Ellison cofounded Oracle and his son recently bought Paramount.
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He’s also been a big political donor and has supported several politicians over the years.
You’ve probably heard Larry Ellison’s name a lot lately.
In September, the cofounder and chairman of Oracle briefly overtook Elon Musk as the richest man in the world after his company’s stock price soared on news of a blockbuster earnings report.
He also cemented Oracle’s role in the American takeover of TikTok, which was approved by President Donald Trump that same month.
And in August, his son David successfully acquired Paramount, a major shake-up of the media industry that led to a string of new acquisitions and the ascent of Bari Weiss as editor in chief of CBS.
Nonetheless, Ellison is known for keeping a relatively low profile compared to other major tech billionaires.
He’s been around for a long time, and over the years, he’s made a number of interesting moves. In 2012, he bought an entire island in Hawaii, and he later purchased an airline to help facilitate travel to it.
He also owns several mansions, including properties in Malibu, Palm Beach, and Rhode Island.
And the billionaire has thrown around his money in another way: spending it on political campaigns.
Though he’s one of several tech leaders who’s fostered ties to Trump, Ellison does not appear to have ever made any direct, public contributions to the president’s political operation, according to Federal Election Commission records.
He did host a fundraiser for Trump in 2020 on one of his properties, but has said that he did not attend the event himself.
But Ellison has spent big on some other major politicians — mostly Republicans.
Here are the politicians who’ve enjoyed Ellison’s largesse over the years.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina
Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican senator from South Carolina, has been Ellison’s biggest financial beneficiary by far.
From 2020 to 2023, as Scott geared up for a 2024 presidential bid, Ellison poured more than $35 million into Opportunity Matters Fund, a super PAC associated with Scott.
Ellison even attended Scott’s presidential campaign launch event in South Carolina in 2023, where the senator gave the Oracle cofounder and shoutout and called him a “mentor” of his.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio
Long before he became Secretary of State, Marco Rubio was a freshman senator running for President of the United States.
During the 2016 presidential election, Ellison contributed $5 million to Conservative Solutions PAC, a super PAC that supported Rubio’s presidential bid.
