Billionaire Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has deep-rooted connections to Hawaii, and he’s been suspiciously quiet about them for probably the most half. He has lengthy maintained a beachside mansion in Waimea, and just lately received caught buying up swaths of land in Hawaii, which was all revealed in an NPR exposé. He’s additionally notorious for referring to his Salesforce workers as “ohana,” or the Hawaiian idea of household.
Now he’s introduced a significant donation—one of many largest within the state’s historical past—to 3 hospitals on the island. The $150 million present introduced Tuesday from Benioff and his spouse, Lynne, brings the couple’s complete philanthropy in Hawaii to greater than $250 million, “including recent gifts of 282 acres for affordable housing on the Island of Hawaii and another 158 acres owned by a separate nonprofit entity for charitable use,” based on a press launch.
Of the $150 million present introduced Tuesday, $50 million will go to the Hilo Medical Middle to construct out a household birthing middle, intensive care unit, neurosurgical program, and behavioral well being companies. The remaining $100 million will go to Hawaii Pacific Well being to create a well being care campus on the Honolulu-based Straub Medical Middle, promising to “deepen connections” between Hawaii hospitals and UCSF Well being in San Francisco.
“We feel fortunate to have been part of the Hawai‘i community for many decades and to be able to support our ohana in this way,” the Benioffs mentioned in an announcement. “Nothing is more important than the health of our community, and access to care for all who need it.”
However Benioff purchased greater than 600 acres in Hawaii since 2020 which can be value a mixed $100 million, based on the NPR story. A spokesperson for the Benioffs says, nonetheless, they’ve donated a lot of that land.
“Marc and Lynne have donated almost 75% of the total land they’ve purchased in Hawaii over the last quarter century, and well over 90% of the land they’ve purchased since 2020,” the spokesperson informed Fortune in an announcement. “This includes 282 acres donated to the Hawaii Island Community Development Corporation (HICDC), a non-profit developer of affordable housing, and 158 acres to a separate non-profit that holds the property for HICDC if it chooses to use it, or for other philanthropic uses if it does not.”
Assuming the Benioffs have donated 90% of the land they’ve purchased since 2020, they nonetheless personally personal 60 acres in Hawaii. That’s almost 200% of what a mean home-owner in Hawaii has, based on data from Today’s Homeowner, the place the typical plot dimension is 0.23 acres.
Hawaiian housing struggles
Housing affordability in Hawaii has gotten so dangerous that there was a mass exodus of natives to different U.S. cities—and Hawaiian houses price greater than twice the nationwide common at greater than $670,000, based on a University of Hawaii study.
However for the ultra-rich, like Benioff, housing prices aren’t an issue. Plus, Hawaii has the bottom property tax within the nation, that means the rich can get a significant tax break for getting land and properties there. Benioff saves roughly 1 / 4 million per yr for all 600 acres, earlier Fortune reporting reveals.
Different millionaires and billionaires have additionally began shopping for properties on Hawaii to build bunkers to retreat to within the occasion of an emergency, however Benioff denies that’s what he’s doing.
“I’m not a prepper,” Benioff informed NPR reporter Dara Kerr. “We don’t have outsized properties. We have basically enough for ourselves.” Benioff was so bothered by Kerr’s digging that he allegedly saved tabs on her location on the island, seemed into her private life, and even contacted her CEO after her main discovery.
