Larry Ellison: One of world's richest, and the Lion Country connection
John Bisognano and Valentina Palm, Palm Beach Post
Tue, December 2, 2025 at 5:05 AM EST
5 min read
Oracle's co-founder and its largest shareholder Larry Ellison, reportedly the third-richest man in the world, has accumulated a number of expensive properties in Palm Beach County recently.
The latest is Lion Country Safari. The family that founded Florida's largest drive-through safari has sold its 600-acre Loxahatchee land holdings for $30 million to an Ellison entity with the same address as his family foundation, according to Palm Beach County property records.
The park, which encompasses 254 acres, is located at 2003 Lion Country Safari Road west of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road and north of Okeechobee Boulevard.
Lion Country Safari announced the sale in a Nov. 19 post on their website. The park's statement said the drive-by safari will remain open and continue with normal operations.
Here's 5 things to know about Larry Ellison:
Larry Ellison has bought high-end properties in Palm Beach County
Technology magnate Ellison also has bought multiple other properties in Palm Beach County, including a Manalapan mega mansion, a waterfront estate in North Palm Beach and the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa that he purchased in 2024 for $277.4 million.
Neil Merin, a longtime Palm Beach County real estate broker, said that Ellison has spent almost half a billion on Palm Beach County land purchases in the past few years. He also spent $300 million for nearly all of the Hawaiian island of Lanai.
Larry Ellison is an ally and financial supporter of President Donald Trump
Ellison is a political ally and financial supporter of President Donald Trump. His son, David Ellison, became chairman and CEO of the merged Paramount and Skydance companies this past summer.
Paramount owns CBS, which paid Trump $16 million in a controversial settlement over an interview the network conducted with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024. Ellison and White House officials, according to various media reports, discussed the possibility of Paramount also buying the parent of CNN and then dismissing network on- air hosts viewed as critical of the administration.
More: Eau Palm Beach owner Larry Ellison became the world's richest person, at least for a while
Ellison family have history as wildlife advocates
The Ellison family has a history of philanthropic efforts on behalf of endangered animals. This year it unveiled the 197-acre Larry Ellison Conservation Center for Wildlife Care in Saratoga, California that offers programs to rehabilitate and breed native species.
It opened in March and, according to Local News Matters, people can drop off sick, injured and orphaned wild animals from a number of counties in the Bay Area. California's Department of Fish and Wildlife can also bring in wildlife in need of care.
Story continues
The care center includes a large hospital and sanctuaries for different types of wild animals. Most of the some-200-acre center is kept untouched so that animals are surrounded by lush green forest.
The center, according to Local News Matters, started taking in squirrels and hummingbirds when it first opened but it expects the center's population to expand to "other wild animals like songbirds, waterfowl, raptors, raccoons, opossums, owls, foxes, skunks, turkey vultures and coyotes."
Local News Matters also reported the facility breeds local species that are endangered or at risk of becoming endangered such as the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander and giant garter snake.
As for the future of Lion Country Safari, Merin said he expects Ellison will maintain it as a wildlife park. This is because the purchase appears to be linked to Ellison's charitable foundation.
Larry Ellison was the world's richest man in 2025 ... for a short time
In September 2025, Ellison briefly overtook Elon Musk and Google's Larry Page as the globe’s wealthiest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index.
Ellison’s net worth soared on Sept. 10 after a surge in Oracle’s stock price (which has since moderated) after the company released an impressive quarterly earnings report and hinted at having secured additional big-bucks customers.
That meant Ellison’s net worth in early September 2025 leapt by nearly $100 billion. He is Oracle’s largest individual shareholder.
What is Larry Ellison's worth?
Larry Ellison is worth about $253 billion dollars.
He owns more than 40% of Oracle's stock, and has a stake in Tesla (Musk's company), a sailing team, a tennis event in Indian Wells, California, and various real estate, according to Bloomberg.com.
According to Business Insider, Ellison's net worth exceeds Bank of America's $385 million market value.
The world's richest person is Elon Musk at about $480 to $497 billion.
Google's Larry Page is second with about $262 billion.
What's a billion dollars?
According to Quora, if you spent $1,000 every hour, it would take just over 114 years to spend a billion dollars.
To put it in another way: The median salary in Florida is $63,000. It would take a little less than 16 years to reach $1 million, assuming there's no interest, investments or taxes.
To reach a billion on that salary? It would take 15,873 years.
And that's just one billion. Times that by 252. It would take you (earning $63,000 per year) about 4 million years to make what Larry Ellison is worth now.
What is Lion Country Safari?
Lion Country Safari opened its doors in 1967, becoming the first cage-less zoo in the United States. When it first started operations, the park only featured lions. Today, the property is home to 89 species, including chimpanzees, rhinos and giraffes.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Larry Ellison is one of the world's richest people, worth $250 billion
View comments