Last week we brought you the story of what will likely go down in history as "the greatest flip ever." We knew the identity of the seller, but we were left salivating at who could possibly be the unidentified mystery buyer. What crazy billionaire swooped-in just 15 months after the previous purchase with an offer that not only smashed the record for most expensive home sold in Florida history, but also became the third most expensive home sale in US history?? We now know. And maybe we should have guessed.
For those who missed our previous coverage, here is a really brief recap:
In March of 2021, billionaire tech entrepreneur Jim Clark (Silicon Graphics, Netscape, WebMD) paid $94 million for an expansive Florida estate called "Gemini." Located in the Palm Beach, Florida town of Manalapan, Gemini is absolutely one of the craziest private residential properties in the world.
Let me just go ahead and show you what we are talking about. Here is a photo of Gemini:
And in case you were wondering, Gemini isn't just that one large mansion in the center with the private golf course. Gemini is pretty much EVERYTHING you see in the photo above.
Here, I've marked off Gemini's boundaries in red:
What you're looking at is a 16-acre property that has 1,200 feet of Atlantic ocean frontage on one side and 1,300 feet of Intra-coastal Waterway frontage on the other.
Gemini features a world-class botanical garden, a three-hole PGA-rated golf course, a sports complex with tennis, mini golf and basketball court…
In addition to the 62,000 square-foot primary mansion, there are a half dozen additional guest houses and recreational structures. There are 30 bedrooms and a reported 47 BATHROOMS throughout the various areas of the property. In addition to the walking paths you see in the photo above, there's also an underground tunnel system.
As we stated earlier, Jim Clark bought Gemini in March 2021 – 15 months ago – for $94 million.
Jim and his former Victoria's Secret lingerie model wife Kristy Hinze (36 years his junior) bought the property thinking they would give up their longtime multi-home footprint in New York for the warm beaches and water of Florida. For whatever reason, they ended up changing their minds and decided remain New Yorkers.
For that reason, at some point in recent weeks Jim reached out to another person he knew had been interested in Gemini last year. Jim asked if this person was still interested. They were.
Last week Jim closed a deal to sell Gemini to that unidentified interested person. Just 15 months after buying Gemini for $94 million, Jim sold it for…
$175 million
And now we know the identity of the buyer.
Gemini was purchased by a corporation called "Florida Realty LLC." According to its corporate registration records, Florida Realty LLC is based out of an office building in Walnut Creek, California. The address is:
101 Ygnacio Valley Rd, Suite 320
A simple google of that address reveals another occupant of Suite 320. That other occupant is…
The Larry Ellison Foundation.
Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that Gemini's new owner is…
Larry Ellison
The Oracle founder, whose $88 billion net worth makes him the the world's 13th richest person, is Gemini's new owner.
This isn't very shocking. Larry is probably more famous for his insane real estate purchases than he is for founding Oracle, which happens to be the world's largest database and business software company.
Larry's personal property portfolio includes homes in Japan, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Rhode Island, Silicon Valley, Hawaii and TWELVE… TWELVE!!!! beachfront mansions in Malibu, California.
Larry's Silicon Valley property, located in the town of Woodside, is a 45-acre estate that he painstakingly built to resemble a 16th-century Japanese manor, complete with a three-acre man-made lake with two waterfalls. If this property was ever offered for sale it would likely be listed for $200 million, but that actually leads to a funny story. At one point the city of Woodside informed Ellison that it had assessed the value of his property at $173 million, drastically increasing his annual property tax bill. Ellison went to war with the town… and WON. He ultimately proved the property was "only" worth $70 million from a local tax perspective.
In the SoCal town of Rancho Mirage, California, out in the desert near where Coachella takes place, Larry owns a 250-acre exclusive golf club called Porcupine Creek Estate. He also owns the Rancho Mirage tennis center which is home to an annual WTA tournament.
Have you heard of the Hawaiian island Lanai?
Hawaii's sixth-largest island, Lanai might be best-known for featuring two Four Seasons hotels that are considered to be among the best hotels on the planet. Bill and Melinda Gates got married on Lanai in 1994. Larry owns the island. Not part of it. The whole thing. He acquired Lanai in 2012 for $300 million. Oh, he also owns both Four Seasons.
Larry actually already owns a property in Florida. A month after losing out on Gemini to Jim Clark, Larry paid $80 million for the following mansion just 30 minutes north in a gated community called Seminole Landing:
Larry bought the above property to make his plan to abandon California for Florida official. Larry had long-been upset at California's egregiously high personal income tax rate and other anti-business initiatives.
By moving to a no-income tax state, Larry would no longer have to pay 13% of his annual income to the California Franchise Tax Board (California's IRS). Here's why that's important:
In the last decade, Larry has received an average of $1.7 billion in Oracle dividends EVERY YEAR. I ran the math a year ago. By living in Florida, Larry is saving…
$230 million EVERY YEAR
That's $644,000 every single day. In essence, Larry paid for the $80 million house in around four months just from his tax savings. He'll pay for Gemini in nine months.
So there you have it. Mystery solved. Larry Ellison is exactly the kind of person who would pay $175 million – an $80 million premium – for a something he wanted. Speaking of which, here is a new video tour of Gemini that I just found on YouTube:
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