Larry Ellison and Kathy Warden

Search for “Larry Ellison and Kathy Warden” and the two names sit side by side as though they run a company together, share a boardroom, or are related. The reality is simpler and more interesting. Larry Ellison is the co-founder of Oracle Corporation, one of the most successful technology companies ever built, and one of the richest people in the world. Kathy Warden is the chair, president and chief executive of Northrop Grumman, one of the largest aerospace and defence companies in the United States. They lead companies in completely different industries, and there is no documented personal, family or business connection between them.

So why do people search for the pair? Partly because both are among the most powerful chief executives in American business, and partly because of a case of mistaken identity: Larry Ellison is often confused with Marvin Ellison, the chief executive of Lowe’s, who really has been linked to Kathy Warden through shared business leadership forums. This article explains who Larry Ellison and Kathy Warden each are, whether they are connected, how the mix-up happens, and what can actually be verified about their wealth and pay.

Who Is Larry Ellison?

Larry Ellison is an American businessman best known as the co-founder of Oracle Corporation, the database and enterprise software giant. Born Lawrence Joseph Ellison on August 17, 1944, in New York City, he was adopted as an infant and raised in Chicago’s South Shore neighbourhood. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley, leaving each without finishing a degree, before starting work as a computer programmer in California.

Building Oracle from a $2,000 start

Ellison’s big break came from a research paper. While working at Ampex Corporation in the 1970s, he read Edgar F. Codd’s paper on relational database systems and saw a commercial future in the idea. In 1977, he joined Software Development Laboratories, a small firm founded by his former Ampex supervisor Bob Miner, together with Ed Oates and Bruce Scott. The founders put in $2,000 between them, of which $1,200 was Ellison’s. The company released Oracle version 2, its first database product, in 1979, renamed itself Relational Software in the same period, and became Oracle Systems Corporation in 1983. Oracle’s database became the backbone of corporate computing, and Ellison ran the company as chief executive from 1977 until 2014.

The road was not smooth. In 1990, Oracle nearly collapsed after an aggressive sales strategy booked future licence revenue too early, forcing the company to restate its earnings twice and settle class-action lawsuits. Ellison later called it an incredible business mistake. Oracle recovered, outlasted rivals such as Sybase and Informix, and grew into a software empire spanning databases, cloud infrastructure and business applications. In September 2014, Ellison stepped down as chief executive, handing the role to Mark Hurd and Safra Catz, and took the titles of executive chairman and chief technology officer, which he still holds.

Wealth, islands and other ventures

Ellison remains Oracle’s single largest shareholder, and his fortune rises and falls with the company’s share price. He also owns about 98 percent of the Hawaiian island of Lānaʻi, which he bought in 2012, and he held a stake in Tesla worth billions after joining its board in December 2018, a seat he left in August 2022. His son David Ellison runs Skydance Media, and Ellison’s family trust helped fund the merger of Paramount Global with Skydance in 2025. He is also known for competitive sailing, having backed Oracle Team USA in the America’s Cup, and for founding the SailGP sailing league. In 2026, he was appointed to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Who Is Kathy Warden?

Kathy Warden is the chair, president and chief executive officer of Northrop Grumman, one of the world’s largest aerospace and defence contractors. Born in 1970 or 1971, she grew up in Smithsburg, Maryland, earned a bachelor’s degree from James Madison University in 1992 and an MBA from George Washington University in 1999. She is a cybersecurity and information technology specialist by background, a profile that shaped her whole route to the top job.

From General Electric to the Northrop top job

Warden spent nearly a decade at General Electric early in her career, then held executive roles at Veridian Corporation and General Dynamics, and worked as a principal in a venture capital firm. She joined Northrop Grumman in 2008 as vice president and general manager of its cybersecurity business. Her rise inside the company was steady: she became president of the Mission Systems sector in January 2016, president and chief operating officer in January 2018, and chief executive on January 1, 2019. She joined Northrop’s board of directors in July 2018 and became chair in August 2019. One of her defining early tasks as chief executive was leading the integration of Orbital ATK, the rocket and space systems maker Northrop acquired in 2018.

Boards, recognition and public roles

Beyond Northrop, Warden sits on the board of Merck and chairs the nonprofit Catalyst, which she joined as a board member in 2019 and began chairing in 2024. She has served on the executive committee of the Aerospace Industries Association, previously as its board chair, and was named to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board in April 2024. She accepted the 2022 Collier Trophy on Northrop’s behalf for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. She has appeared repeatedly on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list and on Forbes’ list of the world’s most powerful women. She was sanctioned by Russia in April 2022 and by China in May 2024, in both cases in connection with her role leading a major defence contractor.

Are Larry Ellison and Kathy Warden Connected?

No direct connection between Larry Ellison and Kathy Warden has been documented. Their companies, Oracle and Northrop Grumman, operate in different industries, serve different customers and have no shared ownership. Oracle sells database software and cloud services to businesses and governments; Northrop Grumman builds aircraft, spacecraft, missiles and defence systems. Neither company lists the other as a partner in any major venture, and neither executive has sat on the other’s board.

That does not mean the two have never been in the same room. Both belong to the small circle of chief executives who run America’s largest public companies, and leaders of that group cross paths at industry gatherings, policy discussions, charitable events and conferences in Washington and elsewhere. But attendance at the same kind of event is not a business relationship, and no credible report describes them working together, investing together or appearing together at a specific event. Any claim beyond that should be treated as unconfirmed.

The honest answer is that the search pairing is a product of how search engines work. When two famous chief executives are searched for in similar contexts, their names get grouped together by recommendation systems, and that grouping generates more searches. Readers who want a genuine connection will not find one in the public record.

The Larry Ellison vs Marvin Ellison Mix-Up

The most likely reason this keyword exists at all is a case of mistaken identity. There are two prominent American chief executives called Ellison: Larry Ellison of Oracle, and Marvin Ellison, the chairman, president and CEO of Lowe’s, the home improvement retailer. Marvin Ellison has led Lowe’s since July 2018 and became its chairman in May 2021. Before that, he spent years at Target and Home Depot, then ran J.C. Penney from 2014 to 2018.

Marvin Ellison and Kathy Warden do have a documented, if thin, professional link. Both took part in Business Roundtable’s CEO Workforce Forum in June 2025 in Washington, where Ellison spoke about skilled labour initiatives and Warden spoke about manufacturing workforce training. That is the kind of peer-level link that business leadership groups create: two chief executives quoted at the same event, not colleagues and not partners.

Because the two Ellisons share a surname and a CEO title, pages and search results about Marvin Ellison and Kathy Warden are easily confused with Larry Ellison and Kathy Warden. Several competitor pages on this keyword actually discuss Marvin Ellison while the headline suggests Larry, which only adds to the confusion. If a page tells you that “Ellison” runs Lowe’s, it is talking about Marvin, not Larry. If it talks about Oracle, databases and Lānaʻi, it is talking about Larry. Keeping the two straight is the key to understanding this pairing, and it explains why the search phrase itself is partly built on an error. For more on the Lowe’s chief executive, see our comparison of Marvin Ellison and Greg Garland.

Wealth and Pay: What Can Be Verified

Money is where the two executives differ most sharply, and where readers should be most careful about numbers. Larry Ellison’s wealth comes overwhelmingly from his Oracle shareholding, which means it moves every day with the stock market. Publicly reported estimates vary widely depending on the date and the method. Wikipedia, citing Forbes, reported that as of early 2026 his estimated net worth was around $201–203 billion, making him the world’s sixth-richest person, and that on September 10, 2025, he was briefly the wealthiest person in the world after a jump in Oracle’s share price, with an estimated net worth of about $393 billion. Those two figures, recorded only months apart, show how quickly such estimates change. No single dollar amount should be taken as settled.

Kathy Warden’s situation is different. As a salaried chief executive, her pay is disclosed each year in Northrop Grumman’s proxy statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Her latest reported total pay, for calendar year 2025, was $25,357,443, including a salary of about $1.8 million, stock awards of about $16.8 million, an annual incentive of about $4.2 million, and pension and other items. The prior year’s total was $24,359,199. Reported pay totals like this are not take-home pay: stock awards are counted at their value on the grant date, and their eventual worth can be very different. There is no verified net worth figure for Warden. Online claims for her range widely and rest on no disclosed method, so they should not be quoted as fact. Readers interested in the same kind of filings-based pay reporting can also look at our article on Kathy Warden and Simone Biles, which covers Warden’s career from a different angle.

Larry Ellison and Kathy Warden Side by Side

Detail	Larry Ellison	Kathy Warden
Company	Oracle Corporation	Northrop Grumman
Industry	Enterprise software and cloud	Aerospace and defence
Title	Co-founder, executive chairman and CTO	Chair, president and CEO
Born	August 17, 1944, New York City	1970 or 1971, Maryland
Education	University of Illinois, University of Chicago, UC Berkeley (all without a degree)	James Madison University (BA, 1992); George Washington University (MBA, 1999)
Top role since	CEO 1977–2014; CTO and chairman since 2014	CEO since January 1, 2019; chair since August 2019
Known for	Oracle database, Lānaʻi island, America’s Cup sailing	Cybersecurity background, Orbital ATK integration, James Webb Space Telescope
Wealth	Publicly reported estimates vary widely and change daily	No verified net worth figure

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Larry Ellison and Kathy Warden married or related?

No. There is no evidence of a marriage, family tie or personal relationship between them. They are two unrelated business leaders whose names are paired in search results.

Is Larry Ellison the CEO of Oracle?

Not any more. He was Oracle’s chief executive from 1977 to 2014. Since September 2014 he has been executive chairman and chief technology officer, while Safra Catz serves as chief executive. Readers can learn more in our comparison of Safra Catz and Peter Lynch.

Who is the Ellison who runs Lowe’s?

That is Marvin Ellison, a different person. He has been chairman, president and CEO of Lowe’s since 2018, after earlier roles at Target, Home Depot and J.C. Penney. Marvin Ellison, not Larry, is the Ellison who appeared alongside Kathy Warden at Business Roundtable’s 2025 workforce forum.

How rich is Larry Ellison?

Publicly reported estimates vary widely because his fortune is tied to Oracle’s share price. Forbes-based figures cited on Wikipedia put his estimated net worth at around $201–203 billion in early 2026, after a brief spell as the world’s richest person in September 2025 at an estimated $393 billion. Treat any single figure as a snapshot, not a settled fact.

How much does Kathy Warden earn?

Her latest reported total pay was $25,357,443 for calendar year 2025, according to Northrop Grumman’s proxy statement. That total includes salary, stock awards, an annual incentive and pension items, and it is not the same thing as take-home cash.

Where can I read more discussion about this pairing?

Discussion threads about both executives appear regularly on forums. A Reddit search for the two names together is a useful starting point: Larry Ellison and Kathy Warden on Reddit.

Key Takeaways

• Larry Ellison co-founded Oracle in 1977 and remains its executive chairman and chief technology officer. Kathy Warden has been chair, president and CEO of Northrop Grumman since 2019.
• There is no documented personal, family or business connection between them. They run unrelated companies in different industries.
• The pairing is partly a mix-up: Marvin Ellison of Lowe’s, not Larry Ellison, is the Ellison with a documented link to Warden through Business Roundtable’s 2025 workforce forum.
• Ellison’s reported wealth moves daily with Oracle’s share price, so published estimates vary widely. Warden’s pay is disclosed in SEC filings, but she has no verified net worth figure.
• When a page about this pairing talks about Lowe’s, home improvement retail or J.C. Penney, it is describing Marvin Ellison, not Larry.