Larry Ellison and Lanai - good for Hawaii?

[beejee]

Not sure if all of you have heard, but there is a US billionaire buying up Hawaii. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424...85530.html

What do you all think? Larry bought Island Air, and also in the latest news bought GO Airlines!!

If you ask me, I think we need competition in the inter-island airline business. When I moved to Hawaii I could buy a ticket to Honolulu or Hilo for $39 a leg. Now it's $100+ each way - F that!!.

What do you all think about what Larry is doing? Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs have always had a love affair with Hawaii, not sure you knew that.

I applaud what Larry is doing and I hope we learn from it.

[MarkP]

I don't know about the $39 flights. At one point they were down to $25. I can't see how they were making any money at that price and it was clearly a price war.

Larry may be able to do things as a benevolent dictator that could not be done otherwise with everyone pulling in different directions. The owners of the remaining 2% of the island could still throw a monkey wrench in things though, or he could be incompetent, or not benevolent, or he could die right in the middle of things, etc. I however am hopeful and am looking forward to what happens. It could be quite good for Hawaii.

[OpenD]

quote:

---

Originally posted by beejee
What do you all think about what Larry is doing? Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs have always had a love affair with Hawaii, not sure you knew that.

---

Michael Dell owns the most expensive home in Hawai'i, and it's on the north Kona coast. One of his neighbors is billionaire Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google. And there are other uber-rich from the tech world in that nabe. The three most expensive homes in the state are there.

[Midnight Rambler]

quote:

---

Originally posted by MarkP

I don't know about the $39 flights. At one point they were down to $25. I can't see how they were making any money at that price and it was clearly a price war.

---

As recently as 2000 (before Go), you could buy a book of flight coupons at $50 each, call and get a reservation on the day you were flying out, and there were two airlines that were both making money. Now many flights are booked 2 weeks in advance, Aloha is out of business and the absolute cheapest is $90 on Hawaiian. Mainland flight prices have gone up 10-15% in that time, while interisland have gone up 80-200%!

[Bullwinkle]

reserving my judgement until we see what Ellison is REALLY up to so far the numbers just dont pencil out

He bought GO! is a transpacific carrier next?

[LaurelJ]

Not to mention Oprah's home on Maui and her PRIVATE little road she is putting in somewhere between Ulupalakua and Wailea, just so when she is "on Island" she doesn't have to drive the long way around.

[OpenD]

quote:

---

Originally posted by OpenDMichael Dell owns the most expensive home in Hawai'i, and it's on the north Kona coast. One of his neighbors is billionaire Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google. And there are other uber-rich from the tech world in that nabe. The three most expensive homes in the state are there.

---

I misstated myself... isn't that the term? []

On checking back on the Honolulu Magazine article I thought I got that from, I found that in fact more than half of the 25 most expensive homes in Hawai'i are in the NW corner of the Big Island, but I'm not seeing Sergey Brin among them, but instead an investor who made a pile from Google, and a bunch of other folks who made their fortunes around computer tech...

1. Michael Dell, Kukio, computers, $61.8 mil (as of Sep 2010)
2. Ellis Short, Kukio, private equity, $39.4 mil
3. Carol Ann Bartz, Kukio, Yahoo, $31.3 mil
4. Thom Weisel, Wailea (Maui), investment banking, $29.3 mil
5. John W. Hoffee II, Kona, hospital supplies, $28.8 mil
6. David L Anderson, Kona, tech venture capital, $25.4 mil
7. Charles Schwab, Hualalai, internet stockbroker, $23.1 mil
8. Paul Stephens, Kukio, investment mgmt, $23.1 mil
9. George R Roberts, Hualalai, leveraged buyouts, $22 mil
10. Bandel Carano, Kukio, venture capital, $21.9 mil

Further down the list...

13. Guy Laliberte, Mauna Kea, Cirque du Soleil, $20.6 mil

But the inventor of the pacemaker, I'm sorry to report, is still dead. [:o)]

What I can't figure out, though is why Paul Allen isn't on the list, since he owns a big place in Kona... used to be the Thurston Estate... unless it is one of these. ??

Anyway, there may have been some changes since this was published, but it's still pretty interesting. http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu...in-Hawaii/

[DoryGray]

This may sound dumb, but if Ellison "owns" Lanai, what about the people who already own property there, did he buy that too? There's >3K residents, do they retain ownership of their land? (Puna connection: could that happen here too?) Not really, just keeping Rob happy.

[Bullwinkle]

Kinda like the Maui land and pine apple model?

They really tried with the Maui Gold brand, Costa Rica a fierce competitor, has most of the pine apple market these days

Check the labels on where our bananas come from....

Australia under cuts us in mac nuts...... wind energy doesn't pencil out either ....

I think he hasnt shared the real "play" yet - or its a hobby..... kinda like Lego for ultra monied .... I always wonder about folks who dont cash out after having a couple of million in the bank .... I may not have as much cash - but doing better than Jobs....... dead is dead - no options - time (especially with a big chunk of cash in ones back pocket) much more precious than money

Lots of lifestyles at stake over there imho

edit: .... my guess is real estate subdivision or time share ....... lots and lots of 5 acre lots - a private enclave for those wanting to escape the masses

The new trend in business with the end of westward expansion is to cut the economic "pie" into smaller and smaller pieces and increase the value of each slice through "value added". Slicing up and packaging makes sense in that light.

He will need to expand the infra structure to do that... If I were a buyer of a private get away .... having Go as part of the package a big security blanket and sales tool.

[Midnight Rambler]

quote:

---

Originally posted by pahoated

Ellison owns 98% of the island, the remaining 2% owned by government and native Hawaiian religious areas. All the residents are renters.

---

Not true, nearly all the houses in Lanai City are privately owned, part of that 2%. Some random ones are still owned by the company, so I'm guessing they decided to sell to the occupants a few years ago.

quote:

---

As for the inter-island flight costs, jet fuel cost has quadrupled in 10 years:
http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=jet-fuel&months=120

---

So does fuel make up half the costs of Hawaiian Air but only 10% of the costs of mainland airlines?