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America's elite have long seen Hawaii as an ideal tropical paradise for their vacation homes. Billionaires like Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, and Larry Ellison all own property there. But despite the big names and showy personalities of Hawaii's ultrarich, Pierre Omidyar, the media-shy founder of eBay, is the island state's richest permanent resident, according to Forbes' list of the richest billionaire in every state for 2024. Forbes' list consisted of 54 billionaires living in 47 of the 50 US states. Together, they're worth $1.6 trillion. Omidyar contributes $6.5 billion to that total. The French-born Iranian American founded eBay in 1995. Omidyar became a billionaire when the company went public three years later.
In 2002, eBay acquired the online-payment platform PayPal for $1.5 billion, which was later spun off in 2015. In 2020, Omidyar stepped down from eBay's board as part of a broader overhaul of the company. The departure was not related to any disagreement with the company, The Wall Street Journal reported. He retains the title of director emeritus. In 2013, Omidyar founded First Look Media, a media nonprofit that launched the investigative-news outlet The Intercept in 2014. In 2023, The Intercept left First Look to become an independent organization. Though he resides in Honolulu with his wife, Pamela, Omidyar is also a real-estate developer in Mexico. According Forbes' real-time billionaire list, the 56-year-old is the world's 444th richest person. In 2004, he started the Omidyar Network, and has since given over $1.5 billion to philanthropic causes and impact investments. He's been a longtime supporter of progressive political causes and is a critic of Big Tech. In 2020, his Omidyar Group donated $150,000 to Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit that was representing the Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. Omidyar has taken the top spot in Hawaii on Forbes' list from Larry Ellison, the chief technology officer and cofounder of Oracle. Though Ellison still owns 98% of Lanai, an island in Hawaii, records now indicate that California is his primary home, Forbes reported.
Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, who also own large properties in Hawaii, are likewise residents of different states. In 2021, Bezos and his now-fiancée, Lauren Sanchez, broke records for purchasing the most expensive property ever sold on the Hawaiian island of Maui, Architectural Digest reported, when the couple paid $78 million for a 14-acre property. Correction: May 2, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated Larry Ellison and Pierre Omidyar's roles at Oracle and eBay, respectively. Ellison is the chief technology officer, not the CEO, and Omidyar is the former chairman.