Lāna'i

Hawaii, USA

Lāna'i ()   link
File:Colored locator map for the island of Lanai.png
Locations	Hawaii, USA
Hawaii island 98% owned by Larry Ellison

Lāna'i sometimes written Lanai, is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands and 98% owned by Larry Ellison, cofounder and chairman of Oracle Corporation

Overview

The island has a population of 3,367. The only settlement of note is the small town of Lāna'i City. The island is 98% owned by Larry Ellison, cofounder and chairman of Oracle Corporation, the remaining 2% is owned by the state of Hawaii or individual homeowners.

Ellison has been described as a contemporary American king on Lāna'i, owning the two hotels that provides most of the jobs, most homes, and virtually all commercial property. A provision in his rental agreement stipulates that anyone who loses a job with his company may also be evicted from their home, and many people both work for and rent from him; additionally, small enterprises' lease agreements, which could be as high as five-years previously, are now usually thirty days. According to Lānai's representative on the regional Maui County Council, Gabe Johnson, the government has limited authority over public infrastructure.

History

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In the pre-Contact past, Lana'i was known as the dwelling place of man-eating spirits.

During the 20^th century, the island was a large pineapple plantation. In 1985, Lānaʻi passed into the control of David H. Murdock upon his purchase of Castle & Cooke, then the owner of Dole. High labor and land costs led to a decline in Hawaii pineapple production in the 1980s, and Dole phased out its pineapple operations on Lānaʻi in 1992.

In June 2012, Larry Ellison, then CEO of Oracle Corporation, purchased Castle & Cooke's 98% share of the island for $300 million. The state and individual homeowners own the remaining 2%, which includes the harbor and the homes where the 3,000 inhabitants live. He spent an estimated $450 million to remodel his Four Seasons Resort Lanai, which reopened in 2016.

In August 2021, Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and his family vacationed on Lāna'i. While there, he met with Larry Ellison, a key witness in his ongoing corruption trial.