Zuckerberg continues to ‘colonize’ Hawaii — Analysis

Facebook’s founder has expanded his not-so-virtual empire with latest land purchase
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg purchased 110 acres more land on Kauai Island, Hawaii.
He and his wife are now the owners of 1,400 acres on the island. Many of these land parcels are protected conservation or agricultural land. The latest addition to their $100 million Ko’olau Ranch includes the Ka Loko reservoir, where a dam collapsed in 2006 after 40 days of rain, killing seven people, local media reported this week. The previous owners of the property were sold to the Zuckerbergs in November for $17,000,000, and the disaster was attributed to them.
The billionaire has previously faced accusations of trying to “colonize” Kauai. The couple’s actions upon purchasing their first mansion on the island in 2014 were hardly neighborly, with the billionaire opting to build a wall around the 707-acre property to block locals from accessing Pila’a beach, a spot beloved by locals and travelers alike. Following his purchase of their first mansion on the island in 2014, Zuckerberg was accused of trying force tenants farmers off their land. He eventually gave up this pursuit three years later and apologized to local newspapers for his attempt at takeover.
These are the facts Zuckerbergs also own most of Kahu’aina Plantation and Larsen Beach, having acquired an additional 600 acres in April for $53 million. The “security team”According to local media, the amount spent on protecting these investors and the couple’s investments amounts to more than half of that, which is $23million.

An estimated 50,000 signatures for a Change.org petition requesting the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands be added, suggests that the security team will probably cost more than the price of the security staff. “Stop Mark Zuckerberg from Colonizing Kauai.”The petition has been signed by more than 1,000,000 people.
The Zuckerbergs are far from the only tech billionaires expanding their footprints atop Hawai’i’s tropical paradise islands. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos purchased a Maui estate worth $78million in November, after he divorced his wife. He also claimed a marine fishing preserve with Lauren Sanchez.
His presence can’t be sitting too well with the locals, as even they are not permitted to fish or conduct commercial activity in the area, and he also recently snapped up a huge piece of property for his parents on the island.
Oracle’s Larry Ellison also owns almost the entire island of Lanai.
Share this story via social media
[ad_2]