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When you’re the world’s third-richest man – according to Forbes – with a net worth of $209 billion, buying real estate for price tags that would be shocking to most is just another day at the office for Oracle founder Larry Ellison. His recent $202 million purchase of a stately London office building is the latest jewel in a glittering real estate portfolio.
According to CoStar News, Ellison has agreed to buy the West End property from Hong Kong-listed investor Chinese Estates. The property, located at 11-12 James Square, is currently entirely vacant, and Ellison, 80, is thought to be buying it for one of his businesses. Chinese Estate purchased the building from Malaysia’s Employees Provident Fund for £175 million ($216 million in 2017).
The purchase is notable for Ellison, as most of his real estate holdings – valued at over $1 billion – thus far have been U.S.-based in California, Rhode Island, Hawaii, and Palm Beach. Dubbed “the nation’s most avid trophy-home buyer” by the Wall Street Journal in 2011, Ellison’s penchant for picking up prestige properties has hardly abated. Here’s a closer look.
California Dreaming
According to AOL, in 1988, a decade after founding Oracle, Ellison purchased a $3.9 million, 10,000-square-foot home in San Francisco’s upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood. Seven years later, in 1995, Ellison purchased a 23-acre estate in Woodside, California, for $12 million. The tech mogul reportedly spent $200 million renovating the home, modeling it on a 16th-century Japanese imperial palace, completing it in 2004.
Outside of his role with Oracle, Ellison is perhaps known for helping make Malibu, CA, what it is today. He started buying homes in the former laid-back surf town three decades ago. Today, he owns eleven properties in Malibu’s Carbon Beach, an area referred to as “Billionaire’s Beach” because of its high net-worth residents, as detailed in the Wall Street Journal. Ellison also owns multiple buildings and commercial ventures. Among them is the Japanese-inspired Nobu Ryokan Hotel, where rates start at a minimum of $2,000 a night.
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A Newport, R.I., Historic Mansion
Ellison also owns properties in Newport, Rhode Island, another beachy enclave on the opposite side of the country from Malibu. His primary property is the Beechwood Mansion on Bellevue Avenue, built in 1851 and occupied by the Astor family. Ellison purchased the home in 2010 for a reported $10.5 million and, according to Forbes, spent over $100 million converting it into a museum.
The tech titan also owns properties in Tahoe. In 2018, he bought the famed Cal Neva Lodge out of bankruptcy for $35.8 million and sold a home in 2014 for $20 million.
Kyoto Art Museum
Ellison also reportedly owns a historic garden villa in Kyoto, Japan, on the grounds of Nanzen-ji, a Zen Buddhist temple. The garden was listed for $86 million. In 2012, Ellison told CNBC that he planned to convert the property into a Japanese art museum.
Lanai
Ellison owns 98% of the Hawaiian Island of Lanai, including a $3,000-a-night spa called Sensei Retreat and a solar-powered hydroponic greenhouse. He purchased the Island from former Dole Foods owner David Murdock in 2012 for $300 million, with the 101-year-old ex-fruit impresario Murdock listing his remaining house there only recently for $17 million.
According to Forbes, Ellison bought Porcupine Creek for $42.9 million in 2011 and opened the 230-acre property that was once Larry Ellison’s private estate for select guests as a Sensei resort based on his Lanai retreat bearing the same name. The getaway includes eight villas – two and four-bedroom residences with full kitchens, Japanese-style soaking tubs and robot toilets, creekside patios, and outdoor rain showers. No more than 68 guests will ever be on the property at the same time.
Palm Beach
One of Ellison’s most recent purchases was the 2022 $173 million acquisition of a Manalapan, FL, compound in a ritzy town just south of Palm Beach. According to USA Today, the transaction marked the highest-ever residential sale in Florida.
Soon after, the Palm Beach Post reported that Ellison bought the luxury Eau Palm Beach Resort and Spa in Manalapan for $277.39 million. The Mediterranean-style, 300-plus-room resort was previously owned by Zinfandel Holdings, a Delaware limited liability company affiliated with the Lewis Trust Group. Ellison plans to improve the 7-acre Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa at 100 S. Ocean Blvd., which includes a 42,000-square-foot spa, three tennis courts, two pools, and more than 30,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
