Losing Paradise

Larry Ellison is making the Hawaiian island of lanai more hospitable to the extremely rich-and pushing out people who've lived there for generations

- Sophie Alexander

In hindsight, Chris Andrus says, the Nobu opening was a bad sign. It was 2012. Andrus, a bald, goateed, self- proclaimed hippie, was living on Lanai, a Hawaiian island of about 3,000 people, helping an old friend start a woodworking comp any. Paradise was treating him well: The business was growing rapidly, and Andrus was in love with Lanai’s tightknit community. Then Larry Ellison, the eccentric co-founder of Oracle Corp. and the 11th-richest person in the world, bought it—the island, that is. The $300 million purchase came with 98% of Lanai’s 90,000 acres, plus the two Four Seasons resorts that provide most of its jobs, a significant chunk of its homes, and practically all its commercial properties. Overnight, Ellison became almost everyone’s boss, landlord, or both.

One of the first things Ellison did was build a Nobu, the definition of an ultra-high-end restaurant chain. (“Inedible,” he’s said of the cuisine he first found on Lanai.) Andrus was invited to the soft opening because Lanai Woodworkers had helped build the place. He met Ellison on his way to the bathroom and introduced himself by way of his handiwork, pointing to the hostess stand and wooden walls. Ellison shook his hand and told him, “We’re gonna do great work together,” he recalls. That was the last time they spoke. Two weeks later, Andrus was out of a job.