Larry Ellison added two Nobu restaurants to his Hawaiian Island

According to Bloomberg, after Oracle founder Larry Ellison purchased nearly all of the land on the Hawaiian island of Lanai for $300 million a decade ago, his first major project was opening a branch of the high-end Japanese restaurant Nobu. According to the report, a second Nobu has opened on the island in the years since, but many local residents whose families have lived on Lanai for generations have left.

Ellison's holding company, Pulama, also cancelled a 150-unit affordable housing complex that had been promised to residents for years. Lanai, the smallest inhabited Hawaiian island, has a population of approximately 3,200 people, with tourism being the primary industry.

Ellison, who founded software giant Oracle and is estimated to be worth $95 billion by Forbes, relocated to the island full-time in 2020. According to Bloomberg, he also spent $75 million upgrading the Four Seasons resort on the island, where rooms can cost thousands of dollars per night.

All properties for sale in Lanai City are marketed as vacation homes with seven-figure asking prices. One local who cannot afford to buy a property on the island told Bloomberg: "My biggest worry, worst-case scenario, is that the island becomes this playground for only the rich."