Larry Ellison
Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Ellison (born August 17, 1944) is an American programmer, internet entrepreneur, adventurer, businessman and philanthropist. He was the Chief Executive Officer of the software company Oracle Corporation between its foundation in 1977 and 2014. In 2014, he was listed by Forbes as the third-wealthiest man in America and as the fifth-wealthiest person in the world, with a fortune of $56.2 billion. Ellison was born in New York City but grew up in Chicago. He studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and the University of Chicago without graduating before moving to California in 1966. While working at Ampex Corporation in the early 1970s, he became influenced by Edgar F. Codd's research on relational database design, which led in 1977 to the formation of what became Oracle. Oracle became a successful database vendor to mid- and low-range systems, competing with Sybase and Microsoft SQL Server, which led to Ellison being listed by Forbes as the richest Californian in 2006. Ellison has donated up to 1% of his wealth to charity and has signed The Giving Pledge. In addition to his work at Oracle, Ellison has had success in yachting, through BMW Oracle Racing, and is a licensed aircraft pilot who owns two military jets.