Oracle co-founder and largest shareholder Larry Ellison, who is reportedly the third-richest person in the world, has recently amassed a number of pricey properties in Palm Beach County.
The latest is Lion Country Safari. The family that created Florida’s largest drive-thru safari has sold 600 acres of its Loxahatchee land to an Ellison entity for $30 million at the same address as his family foundation, according to Palm Beach County property records.
The 254-acre park is located at 2003 Lion Country Safari Road west of Whitney Road in Seminole Platte and north of Okeechobee Boulevard.
Lion Country Safari posted news of the sale on its website on Nov. 19. Drive-ins will remain open and continue normal operations, a park statement said.
Here are 5 things you need to know about Larry Ellison:
Tech mogul Ellison has purchased several other properties in Palm Beach County, including a Manalapan megamansion, an oceanfront estate in North Palm Beach, and the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, which he purchased in 2024 for $277.4 million.
Neil Merin, a longtime Palm Beach County real estate agent, said Ellison has spent nearly $500 million buying land in Palm Beach County over the past few years. He also spent $300 million to buy nearly the entire Hawaiian island of Lanai.
On January 21, 2025, US President Donald Trump delivered a speech on artificial intelligence infrastructure next to Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in the Roosevelt Conference Room of the White House in Washington, USA.
Ellison is a political ally and financial backer of President Donald Trump. His son, David Ellison, became chairman and CEO of the combined Paramount and Skydance companies last summer.
Paramount owns CBS, which paid Trump $16 million in a controversial settlement over a 2024 interview the network conducted with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. According to multiple media reports, Ellison and White House officials discussed the possibility of Paramount also acquiring CNN’s parent company and then firing TV hosts seen as critical of the administration.
More: Eau Palm Beach owner Larry Ellison becomes world’s richest man, at least for a while
The Ellison family has a history of philanthropic efforts for endangered animals. This year, it opened the 197-acre Larry Ellison Wildlife Conservation Center in Saratoga, California, which provides programs to restore and propagate native species.
It opened in March and allows people to transport sick, injured and orphaned wildlife from many Bay Area counties, Local News Matter reported. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife can also bring in wildlife in need of care.
The care center includes a large hospital and a sanctuary for different types of wildlife. The approximately 200-acre center is mostly unspoilt and the animals are surrounded by lush green forest.
Oracle BMW Racing syndicate chief Larry Ellison waves to his crew after beating Swiss syndicate Alinghi in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf
The center will house squirrels and hummingbirds when it first opens, but the center’s population is expected to expand to include “other wildlife such as songbirds, waterfowl, raptors, raccoons, opossums, owls, foxes, skunks, turkey vultures and coyotes,” Local News Matter reported.
Local News Matter also reported that the facility houses local species that are endangered or at risk of becoming endangered, such as Santa Cruz long-toed salamanders and giant garter snakes.
As for the future of Lion Country Safari, Melling said he expects Ellison will maintain it as a wildlife park. That’s because the purchase appears to be tied to Ellison’s charitable foundation.
Larry Ellison purchased Lion Country Safari and has recently purchased other properties in Palm Beach County, including a Manalapan mega-mansion, an oceanfront estate in North Palm Beach and the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa.
In September 2025, Ellison briefly surpassed Elon Musk and Google’s Larry Page to become the world’s richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Ellison’s net worth soared on Sept. 10 after Oracle released an impressive quarterly earnings report and hinted it had secured more big customers, sending the company’s stock price soaring (it has since receded).
This means that Ellison’s net worth jumped by nearly $100 billion in early September 2025. He is Oracle’s largest individual shareholder.
Aziza, a rare baby white rhino, clings to her mother Anna at Lion Country Safari in Roxahachie on Monday, September 27, 2021. Aziza was born on September 22nd.
Larry Ellison is worth approximately $253 billion.
According to Bloomberg, he owns more than 40% of Oracle stock and has stakes in Tesla (Musk’s company), a sailing team, a tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, and various real estate properties.
According to Business Insider, Ellison’s net worth exceeds Bank of America’s market capitalization of $385 million.
The world’s richest man is Elon Musk, worth approximately $48-497 billion.
Google’s Larry Page ranks second with about $262 billion.
Actors Harrison Ford (left) and Larry Ellison board the BOR 90 trimaran as it prepares to set sail in San Diego, California, on August 11, 2009.
According to Quora, if you spend $1,000 an hour, it would take just over 114 years to spend $1 billion.
In other words: The average salary in Florida is $63,000. It will take longer than 16 years Assuming no interest, investments or taxes, $1 million is reached.
Relying on this salary to reach one billion? This requires 15,873 years.
And that’s just a billion. to 252 times. It would take you (earning $63,000 a year) about 4 million years to reach what Larry Ellison is worth today.
A male lion at Lion Country Safari in February 2025.
Lion Country Safari opened in 1967 as the first cage-free zoo in the United States. When it first opened, there were only lions in the park. Today, the estate is home to 89 species, including chimpanzees, rhinos and giraffes.
This article originally appeared in The Palm Beach Post: Larry Ellison is one of the richest people in the world, worth $250 billion
