Larry Ellison will soon be 98% owner of the island of Lanai, provided state regulators OK the buy
When you're a member of the rich and famous set — not, like, the sorta rich, we mean really rich here — you go out and buy an island. After all, Celine Dion owns a $29 million private island in Canada. But when you're really rich, you buy the absolute biggest island you can find, as in the case of Oracle co-founder (and billionaire) Larry Ellison, who is spending "hundreds of millions of dollars" to buy his own Hawaiian island.
Yes, that's right: Larry Ellison is attempting to buy the Hawaiian island of Lanai. It's Hawaii's sixth largest island, measuring 140.5 square miles, and it is visible from space. The purchase comes complete with its own city, school, airport, and of course, the Four Seasons Resorts Lanai at Manele Bay and the Four Seasons Resorts Lanai, Lodge at Koele. Ellison also gets ownership in two championship golf courses.
For locals, Ellison's purchase is a little unsettling. Said island resident Robin Kaye in an interview with the SF Gate, "It's kind of strange that in 2012, a medieval system of having one man own an island in the middle of the state, on which 3,000 people live, can still exist."
For the purchase to go through, it needs to be approved by the state of Hawaii. It seems that Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie is more than agreeable to the purchase. "We look forward to welcoming Mr. Ellison in the near future," he said.
[Image credit: Spilltojill, Google Maps]
[SF Gate via Geekosystem]
This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca
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