Billionaire CEO Marc Benioff has been aggressively acquiring parcels of land in Hawaii via various shell companies since the pandemic, according to an NPR exposé—but it’s a subject he would rather keep private.
According to journalist Dara Kerr’s article published Wednesday, the Salesforce boss also allegedly kept tabs on the whereabouts of Kerr, looked into her personal life, and personally contacted her chief executive after the reporter discovered the Salesforce founder owns over 600 acres in Hawaii worth a combined $100 million.
Benioff has long been connected to the island chain, where he maintains a beachside mansion in Waimea, famously planting the Hawaiian concept of family, or Ohana, at the center of Salesforce’s corporate culture. He also enjoys a reputation as a benefactor who gives back to the community through philanthropy and counts stars like U2 frontman and political activist Bono among his friends.
But the subject of his 22 parcels of land purchased in and around Waimea since 2020 seemingly proved too thorny for the otherwise publicity-friendly CEO and owner of Time magazine, who reached out to NPR boss John Lansing following the investigation by his reporter.
“Lansing confirmed he spoke with Benioff, without going into detail,” Kerr wrote. “Benioff didn’t respond to my question about the purpose of this call.”
During her investigation, Kerr wrote the Salesforce founder also revealed he was tracking her movements on the island and brought up, unprompted, “personal details about me and my family” while attempting to divine the title of her upcoming piece.
Fortune reached out to Salesforce for comment, but has not received a response.
Native Hawaiians leaving state over lack of affordable housing
Land is a beloved asset among billlionaires, but this is especially true for Hawaii, where the warm tropical clime may be equally as inviting as the rock-bottom real estate taxes.
At less than 0.3% of assessed value, they are the lowest in the entire nation—somewhat paradoxical given space tends to be scarce on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. For Benioff, that rate translates to roughly a quarter million per year for all 600 acres.
Forbes, a publication that specializes in the comings and goings of the ultrawealthy, only earlier this month published a broader story on the tycoons who own vast tracts of land across the state (as did Fortune’s own Kylie Robison back in August). At the top is Larry Ellison, who bought almost the entire island of Lanai, followed not far behind by Mark Zuckerberg and his Hawaiian-bred Wagyu cattle farm project.
By Forbes’ estimate, just 0.003% of Hawaii’s population now owns more than a tenth of all land not belonging to the government.
The issue of land ownership has become even more sensitive as the median home prices in Hawaii have risen by at least 22% since the pandemic, according to Kerr.
Nowadays more native Hawaiians live elsewhere than in the state itself because of a lack of affordable housing. Last year’s devastating wildfire that forced thousands to flee Maui when their homes were engulfed in flames hasn’t helped either.
Speaking to NPR, Benioff claimed he was not vacuuming up land out of a paranoid fear increasingly common among some of the ultrawealthy to build bunkers to retreat to in the event of an emergency.
“I’m not a prepper,” the Salesforce CEO told Kerr. “We don’t have outsized properties. We have basically enough for ourselves.”
