Our Haute 100 list details the accomplishments of the most influential people in each of our markets—Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. These people continue to make moves, so rather than waiting for the next Haute 100 issue to come out, we thought we’d provide you with regular updates on those Haute 100 members who are making headlines. Time is money, and Larry Ellison, multi-billionaire software mogul of the century, is minting it as 2010 rolls on with acquisitions of Sun Microsystems, America’s Cup, properties on the Malibu Pier, and prospectively, an NBA team.
Larry Ellison
Category: Billionaires
Company: Oracle
Industry: Software
What Made Him Haute: We can sum up his haute factor in one word: Oracle. The billionaire entrepreneur is CEO of the software company and counts the likes of Steve Jobs as a weekend pal. Another way to impart the magnitude of Ellison’s hauteness: he ranked No. 4 on Forbes’ list of world billionaires in 2009 with an estimated net worth of $22.5 billion. He is also an avid yachting enthusiast and owner of a 453-foot superyacht called the Rising Sun as well as a 90-foot trimaran. His BMW Oracle Racing team, representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club, brought the America’s Cup back to the states in February 2010.
What Makes Him Haute Now: You can’t always get what you want, unless you are this year’s sixth richest man in the world. Larry Ellison ranks No. 6 on the 2010 Forbes list of the “World’s Billionaires” with a net worth of $28 billion, and comes in at No. 2 on the list for Forbes “Executive Pay,” while Oracle is No. 113 on the Forbes “Global 2000” in 2010. Silicon Valley’s self-made titan is not the second highest-paid boss for vanity projects. Ellison is pure brainpower conquering the tech world and beyond. Oracle Corp.’s net income jumped 25 percent in the most recent quarter, the first full quarter since Oracle’s $7.4 million buyout of Sun Microsystems. And Oracle’s sales of new software licenses rose for the third consecutive quarter.
Ellison continues to spend his well-earned cash on billionaire-boy’s toys — the world’s most expensive yachts, exotic cars and jets. On the water Ellison’s BMW Oracle team holds the America’s Cup for USA, while on the court, Ellison recently became one of four limited partners in an effort to purchase the Golden State Warriors. Down the coast, Ellison is leading the transformation of surf paradise Malibu with Nobu Malibu and Wolfgang Puck expected to open in summer 2011 at PierView and Windsail, properties on the Malibu Pier owned by the business mogul.
