Billionaire Larry Ellison has officially severed his ties to San Francisco’s Billionaire’s Row, unloading his long-held Pacific Heights estate for a staggering $45 million in a private, off-market deal last month.
While the price tag is making waves, the timing might be the real story.
The sale comes as union progressives sharpen their knives in pushing for a wealth tax that would target the state’s billionaires with a 5% tax on their net worth — a move critics, and even state officials, say will drive the Golden States’ richest into exile.
If Ellison were hit with the tax, it could mean forking over $9.6 billion based on his current net worth of $192 billion, per Forbes.
“Given the billions in potential damage to his fiscal house if the California Billionaire Wealth Tax actually passed in November, I would suspect that Mr. Ellison was advised that retaining a California residence was not worth the risk of some future tax claim that he was domiciled in California,” David Lesperance, a leading billionaire tax advisor, told The Post. “In short, sell quickly as even a haircut would be a rounding error in comparison.”
The nearly 11,000-square-foot fortress at 2850 Broadway features five bedrooms and six bathrooms, and boasts world-class views of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was designed by architect William Wurster in 1961.
The sale marks the city’s biggest sale of 2025, reports the San Francisco Standard.
Ellison hired Lundberg Design in the 90s to remodel the home as “a modern interpretation of a classic Japanese Buddhist garden.”
“The inspiration for the floor plan was the idea of progression through three exterior experiences – the entry courtyard, the interior garden, and finally the view of San Francisco Bay,” according to Lundberg. “As you enter the house both the plan and section open up and out toward the view beyond, and the gardens shift from the intimate to expansive.”
While it’s no doubt a trophy property, by offloading it at the end of 2025, he’s sure to save himself a pretty penny should the wealth tax pass.
Ellison also has a 23-acre estate in Silicon Valley’s Woodside area, and a significant real estate portfolio in Malibu.
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Ellison, worth an estimated $192 billion, hasn’t just left the building; he’s practically left the mainland already.
The tech titan reportedly moved his primary residence to the Hawaiian island of Lanai in 2020, of which he owns 98% of.
He added to his vast real estate portfolio in 2022 with the purchase of a $173 million estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and again in 2024, buying the Eau Palm Beach Resort and Spa for $277 million, according to Bloomberg.
Hawaii has a lower income tax than California, and Florida has a $0.00 state income tax. He also has homes in Lake Tahoe and Newport, Rhode Island, among others.
For a man whose net worth fluctuates by billions in a single day based on Oracle’s stock price, the tax could prove to a nightmare moving target.
The buyer of the property is reported to be a Delaware-based LLC.
