Ultra-rich people like Larry Ellison and Oprah Winfrey have been buying up significant chunks of Hawaii over the years
A year ago, billionaire Oprah Winfrey acquired 344 hectares in Maui, an island that belongs to Hawaii, for the mere sum of US$6.4 million. With the purchase, the presenter now owns 862 hectares in the State, including the 518 hectares she already owned on the island, acquired two decades ago.
Winfrey spends about four months of the year at her property, which is located inland and stretches across green hills to a forest preserve on the slopes of the Haleakala volcano. There, cattle graze on the land she is working to preserve. “It feels like Scotland, but with really good weather ,” says Bob Greene, her former fitness trainer who now manages the property.
Their lands remained intact when fires devastated the territory in August last year, burning 2,681 hectares and causing the deaths of 100 people. On that occasion, the celebrity brought pillows, diapers and other supplies to survivors and, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, created the People’s Fund of Maui, personally contributing $10 million to the effort.
Despite help from figures like Winfrey, the luxury real estate boom that occurred during the pandemic has pushed home prices even higher and intensified tensions between Hawaiians and wealthy landowners.
The move led to the introduction of a controversial bill last week that would ban foreigners from buying land in Hawaii. Despite trying to help after the fires, Winfrey was criticized for filming her relief efforts and asking the public for money. Others questioned what happened to the $100 million in aid promised by Jeff Bezos , who owns a 12-acre property 11 miles south of the fires. A spokesperson told Forbes that Bezos has donated $15.5 million to nine charities so far.
America’s richest have been buying real estate in Hawaii for years, but no one knew exactly how extensive their holdings were.
To find out, Forbes spent months combing through thousands of property records on Hawaii’s six largest islands. The results were surprising: only 37 billionaires own at least 88.22 thousand hectares. This represents 5.3% of total land and 11.1% of all non-government land – although it is likely to be even higher given the measures these billionaires take to obscure their ownership. Put another way: these 37 people, equivalent to just 0.003% of Hawaii’s total population of 1.4 million, own 11% of its private land.
Some billionaires have long-standing ties to the community. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who first visited Hawaii in 1974, donated $100 million to various causes across the state over two decades, and in December, along with his wife, Lynne, donated 114 acres for affordable housing. “I feel a strong spiritual connection to Hawaii,” says Benioff, who has tried to incorporate the Hawaiian concept of ohana, or family , into Salesforce’s culture. “I have a deep understanding of the people and spirit of Hawaii, what we call ‘the aloha spirit.’”
Others, like Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is reportedly building a shelter on his partially walled property, seem more concerned about their privacy. Real estate agent Rob Kildow, who says he bikes with Citadel billionaire Ken Griffin, remembers a billionaire who lives at the private Hualalai Resort saying, “Half the people here don’t know who I am, and the other half don’t know who I am. care about that.”
Wayne Tanaka, director of the environmental nonprofit Sierra Club of Hawaii, tries to be optimistic: “If high-net-worth residents can overcome the desire for isolation and start talking to the people around them, it could open doors and windows for truly contribute to this place.” However, he admits: “Increasingly, Hawaii is becoming a playground for the rich.”
Meet the 10 billionaires with the biggest properties in Hawaii:
Larry Ellison
Property size: 35.53 thousand hectares
Net worth: US$140.2 billion
Source of Income: Oracle
Hawaii’s largest landowner among billionaires, the Oracle co-founder purchased about 97 percent of the island of Lanai for $300 million in 2012, instantly becoming responsible for nearly all of its 3,000 residents, many of whom are his employees. He has since beautified Lanai with the Sensei luxury resort, a Four Seasons-branded wellness retreat, excellent restaurants and a sculpture collection, but, as residents have complained, there is a shortage of affordable housing.
Steve Case
Property size: 23.22 thousand hectares
Net worth: US$1.5 billion
Source of Income: AOL
The AOL co-founder was born and raised in Hawaii, where he attended the same high school as Barack Obama. Case is now the state’s second-largest billionaire land owner, with 23,220 acres, including his 13,820-acre Grove Farm property on Kauai, which leases land for sustainable development projects.
Quek Leng Chan
Property size: 22.45 thousand hectares
Net worth: US$9.9 billion
Source of Income: Banks and properties
The Malaysian tycoon owns a third of the island of Molokai, once famous for its leprosy colony, through his conglomerate Hong Leong Group. Until 2008, Quek operated a huge farm there, including a golf course and hotel, but ceased operations after the state rejected his development proposals. Now the island’s residents are trying to buy it back.
Frank VanderSloot
Property size: 26.50 thousand hectares
Net worth: US$3.3 billion
Source of Income: Wellness products
The billionaire founder of health and wellness business Melaleuca owns the historic 42.50-acre Valley House on Kauai, where parts of Pirates of the Caribbean and Jurassic Park were filmed. An advocate for localizing Hawaii’s beef industry, he operates the state’s two largest meat processing facilities and is suing a former ranch manager for allegedly stealing 200 cows. “Pineapple is gone. Sugar cane is gone. The only thing left, really, is the cattle.”
Neil Bluhm
Property size: 15.78 thousand hectares
Net worth: US$6.3 billion
Source of Income: Real Estate
Bluhm owns 15,780 hectares through his approximately 30% stake in publicly traded land management company Kaanapali Land. The property includes coffee lots, mixed-use residential properties, golf courses and areas zoned for conservation.
Brad Kelley
Property size: 11.12 thousand hectares
Net worth: US$2.7 billion
Source of Income: Tobacco
With more than 404,000 hectares across the US, Kelley is one of the largest landowners in the country. The former cigarette entrepreneur expanded his holdings to Hawaii in 2013, when he purchased 11,120 hectares of Grove Farm from Steve Case. Now he leases some of them to cell tower company American Tower.
Oprah Winfrey
Property size: 862 hectares
Net worth: US$2.8 billion
Source of Income: TV Shows
Winfrey’s mountainous Hawaiian pastures feature ancient stone walls, livestock, a bed and breakfast operation to host friends, and a (non-profit) organic farm. Determined to preserve the land, she committed to keeping it empty and planting native species to help restore the lost waters.
Mark Zuckerberg
Property size: 587 hectares
Net worth: US$166 billion
Source of Income: Goal
Meta’s co-founder spent at least $145 million on land he’s turning into a massive, 587-acre, partially walled retreat on Kauai. He’s raising beer-fed Wagyu and Angus cattle on the land and involving his daughters in the process, according to a January Instagram post in which he shared a photo of a giant steak and joked that “of all my projects, this is the one. more delicious.”
Tadashi Yanai
Property size: 202 hectares
Net worth: US$40.1 billion
Source of Income: Fashion retail
Japan’s richest man and founder of clothing retailer Uniqlo is also a golf enthusiast. More than a decade ago, he purchased two golf courses for $75 million from Maui Land & Pineapple, which is majority owned by Steve Case (see above).
Marc Benioff
Property size: 121 hectares
Net worth: US$10.2 billion
Source of Income: Business Software
Most of Benioff’s Hawaii land is on a largely vacant 65-acre parcel that he and his wife Lynne purchased in 2022. The couple intends to use it for philanthropic purposes. One possibility is to donate it to the Hawaii Island Community Development Corporation, in addition to the 114 acres they have already given to the group. Additionally, Benioff has owned a residence in Hawaii for two decades and also owns a few other homes where members of his family live, he told Forbes.
