Other potential buyers include the philanthropist Frank Mccourt ’s Project Liberty, which is raising capital to make a bid for TikTok in order to “rearchitect the platform” and protect user data. McCourt is a billionaire who previously owned the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. The project is supported by the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt.

Even so, Mr Ellison remains the world’s fifth-richest man, and Oracle the third-biggest software firm. He has a thing or two to teach fellow tech titans, in particular his friend Elon Musk, about staying power.