There have been a lot of negative comments here about billionaires including Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg staking big and expanding real estate claims here in Hawaii. As you know, Bezos has Maui, for Zuckerberg, it’s Kauai, and Ellison has Lanai. So here’s the latest that they’re doing to ingratiate themselves to Hawaii and why.
Bezos’s acquisitions continue on Maui.
As you know, Bezos recently acquired a prized oceanfront estate consisting of 14-acres on Maui at La Perouse Bay, south of Wailea.
He is said to be shopping for yet more real estate on the Valley Isle, including a home for his parents at their fav Montage Kapalua Bay, about an hour’s drive away from his current La Perouse Bay digs.
How Bezos is helping Maui.
Jeff Bezos’ Day One Families Fund has provided a $2.5M grant to the Family Life Center; a nonprofit focused on homelessness on Maui, as well as Molokai and Kauai. This second round doubled last year’s $1.25M donation from Bezos.
Bezos’ fund provides annual awards to groups doing important work in homelessness. This year the fund donated $96M, of which the Maui foundation received about 3%. Will that increase over time? We can’t say. The fund plans to donate $2B to fund nonprofit organizations worldwide focused on the homeless and to create a network of preschools for low-income communities.
Oprah’s land-hunt on Maui.
Sometimes referred to as Maui’s queen, Oprah may be the largest landowner on the island at this point with thousands of acres. Word recently that billionaire Oprah Winfrey is pursuing more Maui real estate, and she has just acquired a 3-acre upcountry Kula property adjacent to her other real estate there.
The latest purchase was a relatively modest $7 million deal for the agricultural property, including a building. That in spite of it having an assessed value of less than $.5 million.
Oprah has been poised on Maui, as a part-time resident, for nearly two decades.
How Oprah is helping Maui.
Her charitable foundation just provided a $100,000 grant to the Women’s Fund of Hawaii.
Zuckerberg on Kauai.
Recently, the controversial Facebook founder purchased 600 more acres on Kauai, bringing his island empire to a massive 1,300 acres.
Zuckerberg’s previous Kauai buy was a whopping 700 acres with access to the white sanded Pilaa Beach, including an organic farm, sugar plantation, and more.
Read about Zuckerberg 600 Acres on Kauai At Larsens Beach
How Zuckerberg is helping Kauai.
Recently, Zuckerberg provided over $4M to help Kauai. In addition, this week, he acquired the largest fishpond on Kauai for another $4 Million donation.
The 600-year-old Menehune (Alakoko) fish pond nearby Lihue Airport consists of over 100 acres. It has been for sale for years prior to this at various amounts up to $12 million and was recently listed at $3 million. Zuckerberg stepped in via a 4M donation to the Trust For Public Land to help acquire the fish pond to preserve it culturally and environmentally.
Ellison on Lanai.
Oracle founder Larry Ellison took it to the next level when he bought the island of Lanai and moved full-time to Hawaii last year. He acquired 98% of Lanai for a mere $300 million back in 2012. Ellison joins the secluded and beautiful 140 square mile island’s other 3,000 residents. He decided to move to the island during COVID.
His ownership includes the island’s two Four Seasons managed resorts. The latest is the small Sensei luxury spa hotel that incorporates fine dining and art, medical evaluation, and adventure camp too, starting at a mere $800 per day. “Beginning with a complimentary, semi-private flight from Honolulu, every stay includes luxurious accommodations and a rotating collection of daily activities such as yoga, meditation, hiking, and lectures. Here, best-in-class wellness practitioners turn to innovative technology and heartfelt intention to enhance your wellbeing.”
How Ellison is helping Lanai.
We were unable to find anything about his charitable interests on the island. He does, however, serve as essentially the only employer on Lanai.
What’s your take: Is Hawaii benefiting from these billionaires who live full or part-time in the islands?
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Oprah visited Lanai. Spent time at a shelter for fire victims.
Question; why did she feel the need to bring a film crew ?
Yes, they are buying up land and donating to causes in Hawaii. Then the day will come when they throw all the locals off the island except for skilled workers.
I hope that instead of buying land American billionaires could donate enough money to rebuild lahaina. That would help residents more than anything. Oprah donated pillows & blankets, really?? Since she owned many acres, show them the money!
Why? And why such large amounts of land being sold to any individual? Will the natives and those living on these islands be able to access the areas? Visitors? Are they preserving the land and culture? Sharing and educating visitors? Hawaii is special and I’d hate to see it closed off and inaccessible except to the wealthy few……donations? The least they can do but it seems they are receiving so much more….
The poor are still very poor in Maui.
Not sure where the billionaires money goes.
Irane d
I live at Lake Tahoe, 39 years now. From what I’ve seen, billionaires ruin everything.
The wealthy have and continue to drive Native Hawaiians out because they can’t afford to live on what used to be their own land. Check out what a million dollars will buy you in HI. Not much.
To be fair, much of the problem in Hawaii hasn’t just been created by foreigners, but by the state of HI and a few wealthy families such as the Bishops who jointly own most of the acreage on all islands. I find Oprah donating a $100,000 grant offensive. Common, Oprah, you’re a billionaire! That would be like me donating a dollar to a cause and bragging about it.
I think it’s sad that any one person is able to buy large amounts of land, how many acres do you need, seriously? How much consideration is given to the native Hawaiians and the rise of number of Native Hawaiians going homeless or being forced to leave because they are unable to afford living costs. The contributions are great but, are they enough to make a difference especially when you’re a billionaire? As for thinking your helping by giving someone a job what exactly are you paying them?
Aloha,
My blood pressure just skyrocketed.
Mahalo
Seems like you left out all of the obvious things that all of these billionaires do for Hawaii by buying up so much property… like preserving it from development… like providing jobs–and supporting countless local contractors and businesses… like paying huge amounts of property taxes–for services they will never use… like public schools… and welfare / EBT / health insurance, etc. They’re only here a few weeks or months out of the year but add 100x more to the local economy than most
I’m not sure who refers to Oprah as “the queen of Maui” but she does NOT behave at all like the previous ali’i of these beautiful islands. Besides buying up Hawaiian Land left and right, she throws the billionaires equivalent of pennies ($100,000 ) to her “kingdom”. Princess Pauahi, Queen Liliuokalani, King David Kalakaua have all left a legacy of love and support for the Hawaiian People, the likes of which Oprah couldn’t possibly comphend let alone duplicate. She’s not my queen.
Meh. Oprah doesn’t owe “the people” of Maui or anywhere else anything at all. She already contributes 10 to 100x more to the locals and their economy than the average islander does–just in property taxes–for services she has never used and never will… like school taxes (she has no children–and if she did, they wouldn’t go to Hawaii’s public schools)–not to mention the jobs she creates and businesses she supports.
I live in Maui full time and I think to preserve the islands and the communities these people will be our hope that the islands can stay as beautiful and as low density as they can by helping the people who have been here all there lives. I live in a small condo but every day I live near beauty I would hate to see if ruined by more building it’s hard to see so many tourists that don’t care about the island. We also need to become more independent and not rely on the mainland for all our food.0
The invasion of these America oligarchs to our Islands is a disaster in the long term, as it will lead to over-development and such high housing prices local people, especially native Hawaiians will be forced to leave to survive financially. The last thing we need on Hawai’i island is for it to become a playground for the mega rich. This is another way of forcing Hawaiians off their own Islands. We have to stop this trend.
They try to make it look good with their donations. But for them, that money is a drop in the bucket.
These billionaires are not known to be land stewards. It’s doubtful they will care for the land. And, they will probably be polluters; with their planes and helicopters and boats and whatever else they bring.
Land in Hawaii is finite, and competition with rich outsiders is driving housing prices through the roof. Most native Hawaiians can no longer afford to live on their native lands and must move to the mainland to survive. My dad just got my grandpa’s house (that he built in the 50’s) reappraised. It’s a 70 year old single wall 3 bed/2 bath house that is in poor condition but because it’s in Hawaii its 1.2 million. Unless inherited, most Hawaiian youth will never own a home here…
I worked on practically every major resort & properties on all the islands. Left for California. 10 yrs.in design & models.Melvin A.
And as Ellison the only Lanai employer, does anyone know if he pays fair wages? Do employees have good benefits (health insurance, paid vacation, sick pay etc)?
How are these individuals (not saying they are not good people) able to acquire ceded land owed to the hawaiians thousands and thousands of acres that is owed to the natvies of hawaii and yet they are legally, physically and emotionally struggling to have what was their inheritance still be something they can’t even get? I propose all development of our land should be halted until all natives have at least an acre of land before any land is sold or developed.
Those people will pull apart these islands and feast until the bones are dry. They seem benevolent, but they use their money to bully and torture those in their way. Auwe.
It is appalling that any one person should own more than 100 acres of island property. It is not necessary and restricts tax paying locals from that much more land or beach access. They significantly drive real estate prices up and their contributions to creating affordable housing are a joke. There contributions go directly to lining a few pockets in the government and nonprofit organizations. Those of us that remain trying to make honest livings, will become their slaves.
All we can do is hope they have the majority of the residents best interest in mind. Let’s not privatize or trash the Islands.
As a Hawaiian, whose family (Ohana) along with the vast majority of Hawaiians protested the annexation of Hawaii, an Independent Nation, by the United States in 1898, it is sad seeing our lands being sold. Nobody talks about Justice for the Hawaiian people and our Nation. Try that topic on national TV Oprah, Bezos and Zuckerberg, who now owns my Ohana lands in Waipake Kauai that we had under the Hawaiian Kingdom taken by the supreme court of the territory of Hawaii in 1906. So much for Aloha.
I believe its easier to just share a story i found interesting.
propublica.org/article/the-government-promised-to-return-ancestral-hawaiian-land-then-never-finished-the-job/
True there should also be reservations for Hawaiians where they can govern they’re land as the please and large communities not HOA regulated homesteads. But I have no say people that have little money don’t matter in todays world.
And may I also point out that no matter how much billionaires “pony up” (enriching the pockets of mostly non-native sellers & making large donations to non-profit social assistance organizations…which thankfully some of them kindly did), they will never be able to own & restrict access to our beaches. Period!
I keep hearing that the Beezos property and the beach is all private. I have swam out to that beach many times. Now we have a legally private beach on Maui? Am I dreaming? It’s like Waimanalo blues.
At some point these new, outsider billionaires need to reach a saturation point with their land acquisition goals. If that’s not in their game plan then they should consider doing so. It is unseemly to acquire properties costing double & triple digit millions of dollars when Native Hawaiians and others who have been living in the islands for generations are unable to afford their own properties with which to establish & raise their own families.
Maybe they can solve the homeless and affordable housing problem with building homes on the land they own next to where they live. Hoarding land just makes it harder for those that need a home. I am in favor of private land planning that address the need.
Weren’t the Mirikatani forced to sell off a lot of their land decades ago for buying too much? I know that Mark Zuckerberg wanted to buy native land and wall it off as his own some years back. That’s sickening…
Hawaii should have laws in place voted by the people that prevent any one person organization or business from owning that much land. Owning 98% of an island county or 1500 acres of coastal property is so unnessary offensive and basically robbing Hawaiians of land. It doesn’t matter how much they give to charitable organizations. They fail to realize that land here is sacred, belongs to the people with not all that much to share.
Would you rather see the rich buy & preserve the land & donante millions to causes the local government can’t, or won’t solve- or should they develop it to make even more money?
Unfortunately, as in Ellison’s case, they can do both. The positive thing he provides jobs to a few thousand people in the process, but then again he can control and limit the population. Is that really ethical or moral?
Compared to regular ‘Joe’s’ like you and I – these mega rich give only a tiny percentage of their income to charity. Most of it is for tax write offs. One of the few rich people who actually GAVE was Paul Newman with his ‘Newman’s Own Brand’ that gives all profits to charity. Now, that is giving. Too bad more celebs don’t do something like that. All these ‘rich and infamous’ could fund so many worthy causes if they truly cared. newmansownfoundation.org/
I agree with Colleen in that most who donate are doing it as a write-off for their own benefit. Don’t get me wrong–I’m sure the money is welcomed by the receivers but it’s still annoying for the ulterior motives. And I love Oprah but only $100,000? Really? For the “Queen of Maui” that’s probably her pocket change!
They’re all idiots. But wouldn’t it be amazing if one of them could somehow get elected as mayor and / or governor??? Would be nice to have someone with a clue about how to run a profitable business behind the wheel for a change.
I personally am not sure their buying up so much land in Hawaii is any different then when the Japanese were buying up much land there. is this so no one else will be able to ever be able to afford a home there on any island? I am curious as I love the islands and have been visiting since the early 80s. I cant afford to buy there but love to spend as much time as possible and so do many others. I hope the Hawaiian people are benefiting from the acquisition of so much land.
If most people do the research; they will find out that the super rich are only purchasing large tracts of land because the property tax is the least at 0.31% of all the 50 states. Also, most “charitable foundations” are a way that the super rich can avoid paying taxes, but still control the money, and appear like they are helping the public. Not to mention that there is no state income tax in Hawaii. It’s all a tax dodge by the 1%ers!!!
I totally agree
No state income! What planet did you fall from??!
They’re most certainly is state income tax here. Where did you get the idea that there isn’t?
There is in fact a state income tax in Hawaii
. At least one I’ve been paying.
Agree.
Aloha
HI taxes rank 41st worst of 50 states
4.44 % Sales Taxes
6.4 % Business Tax
11 % Income Tax
taxfoundation.org/state/hawaii/
Here’s what Iz had to say:
youtube.com/watch?v=qyQGn6E3Lcg
Note 3:33
As a Wailea resident I can say none of my neighbors are thrilled about Bezos buying up as much as he can. As stated before…only going to make prices even higher when billionaires come in and land grab. Unfortunately nothing can be done…it’s a free country. Don’t for one second believe the donations are anything more than write offs and trying to snow job residents into believing they care about them.
I have a friend who was a bookkeeper for Ellison. She said he often buys places and makes the communities better but the average person isn’t aware of it. She left her accounting firm prior to his acquiring Lanai but when she heard he’d bought it she shook her head yes and said he was going to take care of the place, that the people of Lanai would benefit from it.
Thanks TammyB for your comment. I’ve been a part of the Lanai community for 5 years and yes, Larry has and continues to support local non-profits, island children’s endeavors, land enrichments and several sustainable projects here that could benefit a much wider audience as they develop. Yes, he also has his own many projects (which employ many residents) which benefit others as well. In addition, as he envisions something new the community is pro-active to ensure their voices are heard.
Giving someone a job isn’t praiseworthy. When you’re a billionaire you have an opportunity to do more.
Larry E segregates the local Hawaiian people from the people that can go to the Four Seasons Hotels on Lana’i. There are only 3hotels on the island and he owns them. Local Hawaiian people and others that live in Lana’i are not allowed to dine in the restaurants even if a guest invites them.
:0(
Oprah sends millions of dollars to foreign countries and she can only provide a $100,000 grant to the Hawaii Women’s Foundation.
That falls short of showing appreciation for not only Hawaii, but her own country.
I completely agree with your comment! Really only 100,000 for your local community! Never really cared for her and this just shows why.
While their charitable donations can certainly benefit recipients, I’m not sensing much more of a benefit. The land they have purchased is clearly prime real estate which will likely become private property and closed off to others who would have enjoyed the beaches, etc. How does this land get back to the Hawaiians? Return 1/2 of the purchased land back to the Hawaiians. Now that would be something!
Oprah’s $100,000 LOL- that’s pocket change to her! They All could be Way more generous when you compare the price tags of their purchases & their extreme unfathomable wealth
Glad to see they donate penny’s on the dollar in relation to the wealth. What is not mentioned is their buying real estate at inflated prices forces everybody else out of the market because the prices then infkate…. Not that I want to buy anything over there anyway
All of the accolades showered on these multi billionaires for their ‘generous’ gifts gives me pause. The privately supported help should rather be left to decision-making by an entity like government where voters have a say rather than left to the selected giving by a few private individuals who receive lots of applause as they continue to hoard beyond anything responsible and equitable, some not even paying their taxes. This growing wealth for an already super rich elite is really an abominatio
why are you being duped by thes people, get real and follow the money…………..