To the dismay of many locals, Hawaii‘s lush mountains and pristine beaches are increasingly attracting the rich and famous – with everyone from tech CEOs to A-listers and politicians buying property on the islands.
In many areas, the unspoiled landscapes have been transformed into a billionaires’ playground, with long-time residents decrying the ‘resortification’ of rural land.
A study by Forbes last year found that 37 billionaires own at least 218,000 acres of land across the state, equal to 11 percent of non government-owned land.
In August, tech tycoon Michael Dell added to that figure, buying up 500 acres on The Big Island. The move reignited local fury about the impact billionaires are having on the archipelago’s landscape, affordability and global reputation.
‘If our island has any hope of remaining Hawaii, this kind of activity has got to stop,’ Puali’i Rossi, a professor of Native Hawaiian studies at Kauai Community College, told WIRED earlier this year.
‘Eventually Hawaii isn’t going to look like Hawaii anymore – it’s going to be a resort community. Are we really thinking about 100 years from now, what this island is going to look like?’
The most recent US census in 2020 showed that more native Hawaiians now live outside the islands than on them, with many lawmakers and locals attributing this to the rising cost of living and lack of housing.
But that clearly isn’t an issue for America’s wealthiest, who are increasingly buying up large plots of land across the islands – often for above market value – in a bid to get their own slice of paradise.
Michael Dell’s Hawaii estate, which is known as the Raptor Residence
Larry Ellison – the second wealthiest man in the world – owns almost the entire island of Lanai
Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell
Houston-born Dell, the founder and CEO of computer giant Dell Technologies, added to his property portfolio on Hawaii with a major acquisition back in August.
The tycoon, who is worth $147billion, purchased the land which his five-star Four Seasons Hualalai Resort and golf course sits on, according to Pacific Business News.
For nearly 20 years, Dell had been leasing the Hualalai resort grounds from a private school system founded by the estate of Hawaiian royalty to improve the education of Native Hawaiians.
Kamehameha Schools is the largest private landowner in the state, with about 370,000 acres held across the Hawaiian islands.
Its endowment has an estimated $4.7billion in Hawaii real estate, which it says it uses ‘to provide superior risk-adjusted long-term returns to support its mission in perpetuity.’
Michael Dell (pictured), the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, is worth $147 billion
For nearly 20 years, Dell has been leasing the Hualalai resort grounds from a private school system founded by the estate of Hawaiian royalty
Pictured: The golf course attached to Four Seasons Hualalai Resort, both of which are owned by Michael Dell
The Daily Mail has contacted Kamehameha Schools for comment, but has not heard back.
Dell also owns a $75million oceanfront home on the Island of Hawaii, plus the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea.
In 2006, he bought the Hualalai Resort from Kajima Corporation for more than $285million through his family investment firm.
A slightly more modest 14-acre estate on Maui set Jeff Bezos back $78million when he bought it in 2021.
The deluxe private estate, situated on La Perouse Bay on Valley Isle, is surrounded by dormant lava fields and comprised of three residences facing out to the crystal blue ocean.
The year he bought the property, Bezos donated to the Hawaii Land Trust, which is responsible for the environmental conservation in Maui.
The 14-acre estate, situated on La Perouse Bay on Valley Isle, is surrounded by dormant lava fields
Bezos, pictured with his wife Lauren Sanchez, bought the deluxe private estate in 2021
He and his now-wife Lauren Sanchez, 55, reportedly donated to several local charities to feel like part of the community, and pledged $100million to rebuild Maui after devastating wildfires hit in the summer of 2023.
But months later, the billionaire came under criticism when it was revealed he had paid just $15.5million of the pledge. One local official told Bloomberg at the time: ‘Nobody’s heard anything at all.’
Former First Family, the Obamas
Former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle became the most famous residents of Waimanalo, a town of 6,000 people in the shadow of the Ko’olau Mountains, when they bought a three-acre property there several years ago.
The former first couple owns the lavish estate on Oahu, valued by the local tax assessor at over $18million. It’s made up of three properties with a combined 11 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, two pools and two hot tubs.
The former first couple owns a lavish three-acre estate on Oahu, valued by the local tax assessor at over $18million
Locals have previously complained that the Obamas are never seen out and about in the town
The Kalaniana’ole Highway runs behind the waterside home. Land to the north is mainly owned by native Hawaiians, many of whom are farmers, while the coastline is dotted with plush homes.
Locals have previously complained that the Obamas are never seen at the town’s modest array of shops and are rarely seen in the community.
‘[Obama] is retired, he never comes in here,’ one local store owner, who asked not to be named, told the Daily Mail earlier this year.
‘He probably would have when he was campaigning but not now. Their staff go out and collect their food.’
‘He comes and he goes,’ said Lawrence Akau, 63, who spoke outside the town’s Windward Washerette.
The Kalaniana’ole Highway runs behind the oceanfront home, with land to the north mainly owned by native Hawaiians
The couple bought a three-acre property on Oahu several years ago. Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii
Akau’s home is a stone’s throw from Obama’s mega-mansion, and he told the Daily Mail that the only sign the former president is in town is the traffic resulting from his four-car convoys and extra security.
Host and television producer Oprah
TV host Oprah Winfrey owns roughly 1,000 acres of land on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Locals have given the Mississippi native a mixed reception over the years.
The entertainment mogul splashed out $6.6million on 870 acres of land in the Kula region in 2023, adding to the stunning ranch she already owned on the island.
She reportedly snapped up the new plots in several purchases: a 520 acre parcel for $3.89million, a 330 acre parcel for $2.47million and two 10 acre parcels for $100,000 each.
Oprah Winfrey has owned land in Hawaii for years, including a ranch in Kula (seen in 2004)
Earlier this year, Oprah hit back at claims that she failed to open her private road in Maui after the island was hit by tsunami warnings
Oprah, whose net worth is estimated at more than $3billion, received praise for her launch of a relief fund for the Maui wildfires with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
But she has also faced criticism from Hawaiians over the years.
Many critics at the time questioned why the two wealthy celebrities started the fundraiser and didn’t simply fund the project on their own, with some saying their initial donation of $10 million wasn’t enough.
Oprah defended the amount, saying she had thought it would be enough.
‘I was so excited and I got up the next morning and I saw all of this vitriol and I was like, “Whoa, what happened here?”‘ she said at the time, adding that she had been ‘terrorized and vilified’ online.
One of Oprah’s properties on Maui, pictured in 2021. The entertainment mogul is estimated to be worth $3billion
Earlier this year, reports that she had failed to open her private road to people evacuating after a tsunami alert were met with fury.
Oprah denied the claims, with a spokesperson saying she opened the road as soon as she heard the warnings.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg started buying up land on Kauai – the oldest and smallest of Hawaii’s four main islands – in 2014.
In 2021, the tech billionaire and his wife Priscilla Chan bought a former sugar plantation on the island, and earlier this year quietly added another 1,000 acres to their portfolio on the island.
Now, the value of their 2,300-acre estate is estimated to be worth $300million.
Set on turning some of their North Shore land into a vacation spot, the couple brought in an army of construction workers to build the sprawling compound.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (pictured, left) reportedly dropped $270million on the top-secret compound
Thought to be worth more than $250billion, Zuckerberg reportedly dropped $270million on the top-secret compound – which features multiple mansions, an entire village and a vast underground bunker.
While reports swirled that he was planning to install a 5,000-square-foot underground ‘Doomsday bunker,’ he later claimed they were blown out of proportion.
As one of the islands biggest landowners, locals are furious that Zuckerberg has managed to buy up such huge swathes of the island for himself.
Locals were furious that Zuckerberg had bought huge swathes of the island up for himself
In 2016, Allan Parachini, a local journalist, wrote an excoriating piece that called Zuckerberg out for ‘erecting a rock wall in front of his 700-acre oceanfront property.’
Parachini urged residents to ‘tell Zuckerberg that abusing his stewardship of public beaches as if we are just another batch of Facebook victims is unacceptable.’
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff
In recent years, locals in the agricultural Hawaii Island heartland of Waimea have been worrying about rising house prices and out-of-towners moving into the predominantly native community.
Since the pandemic, parcels of land amounting to hundreds of acres started to be bought up around the mountain town, often for well above market value, according to NPR.
Billionaire Salesforce boss Marc Benioff was revealed to be the man behind it – quietly buying up hundreds of acres of land in and around the rural community.
The tech boss, who is worth around $9billion, reportedly owns more than 30 parcels of land totaling more than 600 acres
The tech boss (right, with Elon Musk) said of his purchases ‘we have basically enough for ourselves’
In one instance, the tech founder purchased a plot where a popular local bakery stood, and it shuttered soon after, NPR reported. The building was later turned into a religious center.
The tech boss, who is worth around $9billion, owns more than 30 parcels of land totaling more than 600 acres, according to NPR.
Locals have slammed the San Francisco native as out of touch with their reality, and his efforts to keep his land purchases private have come under immense scrutiny in recent years.
Like Zuckerberg, some accused him of taking over the land in paranoid preparation for ‘Doomsday’, something Benioff has denied.
Speaking to NPR, Benioff said: ‘I’m not a prepper… We don’t have outsized properties. We have basically enough for ourselves.’
Locals have slammed the San Francisco native as out of touch with their reality
Tim Richards, a state senator and sixth-generation resident whose family has lived in the Waimea area for the last 100 years, said: ‘We saw an influx of people coming from the mainland who wanted to get someplace that was, I guess, more isolated.
‘We saw a huge uptick of house sales and huge uptick of median price. And that poses a problem. What young couple can afford that? Seriously. The answer is nobody.’
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison
The second-richest man in the world, Larry Ellison, poured a portion of his inordinate wealth into taking over the island of Lana’i in 2012.
The Oracle co-founder – whose fortune is estimated to be around $377billion – owns a staggering 98 percent of the 140-square-mile island, equivalent to roughly 90,000 acres.
He has been widely praised for his schemes to bring prices down for the 3,000 or so locals, including subsidizing fuel and launching the island’s first affordable housing project in decades.
But the tech tycoon, who is both the island’s main employer and landlord, has also faced criticism for how he has run the island over the past 13 years.
The Oracle co-founder owns a staggering 98 percent of the 140-square-mile island
Ellison, whose fortune is estimated to be around $377billion, purchased the land in 2012
Billionaire Larry Ellison is the majority owner of the smallest inhabited island of Hawaii. Pictured: One of the deluxe villas on the island
A recent decision to cut more than a dozen jobs belonging to local construction workers who had grown up on the island sparked anger from lawmakers and residents.
Maui County Councilman Gabe Johnson, who lives on Lana’i, told Honolulu Civil Beat that he felt the decision to eliminate the jobs was ‘just tone deaf.’
Sophie Alexander, wealth reporter for Bloomberg News, said in 2022: ‘A lot of billionaires have these pet projects, whether they own a sports team, or they’re big art collectors. This seems like it’s become that kind of thing for him.
‘It’s an island of 3,000 people, so it’s basically like this little community that he controls, kind of like the game Sims.’
