Has there ever been a more mercurial, demonic and inexplicably successful figure in high-tech history than Larry Ellison?” asked a writer for ABC.

He seems like an overgrown adolescent, playing with his MIGs, yet he is the second richest man in America, his wealth self-made. Everyone complains about the quality of Oracle’s products, yet great companies continue to buy them.

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Musk, Ellison’s friend and rival for “world’s richest man”, is a frequent guest on Lanai and calls the Oracle co-founder his mentor, according to a biography on Musk by Walter Isaacson. Earlier this year, during a podcast with the Texas senator Ted Cruz, Musk was asked who is the smartest guy he had ever met.

CEO Larry Ellison and the Dark Arts of ORACLE and Deep Ties to the Pilgrim’s Society