Who are the billionaires who are buying Hawaii?

one year ago, Oprah Winfrey acquires approximately 350 hectares of land in Maui for $6.4 million , adding to the more than 500 hectares of land he already owned on the island. Located inland, their (mostly contiguous) estate extends from green hills to protected forest on the slopes of Haleakala Volcano.

The cattle graze mostly on the undeveloped land she is working to conserve. “It feels like Scotland, but with really nice weather,” says Bob Green, their fitness trainer turned property manager.

Winfrey, who lives in Airport About four months a year, he first bought a farm on Maui two decades ago. His land was spared when wildfires swept through Maui last August, burning more than 2,500 hectares and killing 100 people.

She later brought pillows, diapers and other items to survivors and, along with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, created the Maui People’s Fund, to which Winfrey personally contributed $10 million.

But the pandemic-era luxury real estate boom, which pushed home prices even higher, This has increased tensions between Hawaiians and wealthy property owners from other statesThat also led to a controversial bill introduced last week that would bar non-Americans from buying land in Hawaii.

Despite trying to help after the fire, Winfrey was criticized for filming her relief efforts and asking for money from the public, saying the reaction was distracting from Maui.

Others questioned what happened to the $100 million that Jeff Bezos, who owns a 12-acre estate just a few miles from the fire, and his partner Lauren Sanchez had promised to help. Bezos has donated $15.5 million to nine charities so far, a spokesperson told Forbes.

billionaires shopping in the united states Airport For years, but no one knew how extensive his wealth was. To find out, Forbes spent months researching thousands of property records on the six largest islands Airport,

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The results were surprising: only 37 billionaires own at least 88 thousand hectares of land. This represents 5.3% of the state’s total land and 11.1% of all non-government owned land, although it is probably even higher given the lengths these billionaires go to hide their ownership. Expressed in another way: Those 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-term ties to the community. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff visits Airport First in 1974, he donated $100 million to various causes across the state over two decades and in December, with his wife Lynn, he donated 115 acres of land for affordable housing.

“I feel a strong spiritual connection Airportsays Benioff, who has tried to incorporate the Hawaiian concept of ohana, or family, into Salesforce’s culture. “I have a deep understanding of the Hawaiian people and spirit, what we call the ‘Aloha Spirit.’

Others, such as Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Who is reportedly building a bunker in his partially walled compound They seem more concerned about your privacy.

Real estate broker Rob Kildow, who says he bikes with Citadel billionaire Ken Griffin, remembers a billionaire staying at the private Hualalai resort telling him: ‘Half the people here don’t know who I am, And the other half don’t know fuck you.”

Wayne Tanaka, director of the non-profit environmental organization Sierra Club AirportTries to be optimistic: “If high-net-worth residents can overcome their desire for isolation and start talking to the people around them, that will really help us come back to this place.” “Doors and windows can open to help.”

Meanwhile, he admits, “Increasingly, Airport “This is becoming a playground for the rich.”

10 biggest billionaire landowners

larry ellison

35,500 hectares

Net worth: $140.2 billion | Source of funding: Oracle

The Oracle co-founder, Hawaii’s largest billionaire landowner, bought about 97% of Lanai for $300 million in 2012, instantly making him the owner of nearly all of its 3,000 residents, many of whom are his employees. Since then, they have honored the lanai with the Sensei Luxury Resort, a Four Seasons-branded wellness retreat; Great restaurants; and a collection of sculptures, but, as locals have complained, there is a lack of affordable housing.

steve case

23,000 hectares

Net worth: $1.5 billion Source of funding: 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 landowner with 23,000 acres, including his Grove Farm on Kauai, which leases the land for sustainable development projects.

kwek leng chan

22,500 hectares

Net worth: US$9.9 billion | Source of Wealth: Banking, Property

The Malaysian tycoon, through his conglomerate Hong Leong Group, owns a third of the island of Molokai, once famous for its leprosy colony. Until 2008, Quek operated a large farm there, which also included a golf course and a hotel, but he ended his operations after the state rejected his development proposals. Now the residents of the island are trying to buy it back.

frank vander sloot

2,650 hectares

Net worth: $3.3 billion | Source of funding: Wellness Products |

The billionaire founder of health and wellness company Melaleuca owns the historic 105-acre Valley House estate on Kauai, where parts of Pirates of the Caribbean and Jurassic Park were filmed. Defenders of meat industry localization Airport, operates two of the state’s largest meat processing plants and is suing a former farm manager for allegedly stealing 200 cows. “The pineapples are gone. The sugar cane is gone. In fact, the only thing left is the cattle.”

neil bluhm

1,500 hectares

Net worth: US$6.3 billion | Source of Wealth: Real Estate

Bluhm owns most of its acreage through its approximately 30% stake in publicly traded land management company Kaanapali Land. The property includes coffee lots, mixed-use residential real estate, a golf course, and areas for conservation.

brad kelly

1,110 hectares

Net worth: $2.7 billion | Source of wealth: Tobacco

With over 400 thousand hectares of land throughout the United States, Kelly is one of the largest landowners in the country. The former cigarette magnate expanded his holdings in Hawaii in 2013 when he purchased acres of land from Steve Case’s Grove Farm. It now leases some of them to cell tower company American Tower.

Oprah Winfrey

860 hectares

Net worth: $2.8 billion | Source of wealth: TV Shows

Winfrey’s mountain pastures in Hawaii feature ancient stone walls, grazing cattle, a bed and breakfast for entertaining friends, and an organic farm (not profitable). Intending to preserve the land, they have committed to keeping it undisturbed and planting native species to help restore lost wetlands.

Mark Zuckerberg

586 hectares

Net worth: $166 billion Source of funding: Facebook |

The Meta co-founder spent at least $145 million on the land, which he is converting into a sprawling, partially walled retreat on Kauai. He’s raising beer-drinking 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 “my Of all the projects, this is the most delicious.”

Tadashi Yanai

200 hectares

Net worth: $40.1 billion Source of funding: Fashion Retail |

Japan’s richest man and founder of clothing retailer Uniqlo is also an avid golfer. More than a decade ago, he purchased two golf courses for $75 million from Maui Land & Pineapple, which was majority-owned by Hawaii-born Steve Case (see above).

marc benioff

120 hectares

Net worth: $10.2 billion Source of Funding: Business Software |

Most of Benioff’s land in Hawaii is a plot of mostly vacant land that he and his wife Lynn purchased in 2022. The couple intend to put it to charitable use; One possibility is to donate it to the Hawaiian Islands Community Development Corporation. 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.

*Note Originally published at Forbes USA in collaboration with Monica Hunter-Hart

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