Business

A $450M investment by Oracle’s Larry Ellison is luring the rich to a town 20 minutes from Mar-a-Lago

Published

5 hours ago

December 22, 2025

Known for his tech feats as cofounder and chief technology officer of Oracle, in South Florida, Larry Ellison is instead flexing his developer experience as he pours millions of dollars into real estate and helps transform an exclusive island town 20 minutes from Mar-a-Lago into a haven for the mega-rich.

The world’s fifth wealthiest man started buying properties in the 400-resident town of Manalapan, Fla. in 2022, and since then has pumped $450 million into two landmark properties, Bloomberg reported. Ellison set a Florida record for the purchase of a $173 million estate spanning 16-acres that includes both beachfront and lakefront property. And in August 2024, he paid $277 million for the town’s biggest structure, a 300-plus room hotel, the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, according to Bloomberg.

The hotel stands on the grounds of the original La Coquille Club, which in the 1950’s reportedly hosted the Duke and Duchess of Windsor as well as members of the Ford and Vanderbilt families. In the ’80s the original club was razed, but it still exists in name and is part of what is now the Eau Palm Beach hotel. Manalapan property owners can become members of the beach club without paying initiation fees or annual dues, according to the Town of Manalapan’s website.

The Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa in Manalapan, Fla.

Michele Eve Sandberg—AFP via Getty Images

For years, the ultra-rich have increasingly homed in on Florida properties. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has bought three properties on the Florida island Indian Creek, near Miami. Ken Griffin, the founder and CEO of investment firm Citadel, has also spent an estimated $450 million over the years amassing a 25-acre spread in Palm Beach.

In Manalapan, several beachfront homes along the same road as Ellison’s property have sold for tens of millions of dollars, according to Zillow. Yet, Manalapan’s mayor John Deese told Fortune that the recent high-price purchases as well as Ellison’s investments in the town are more than welcome.

“Manalapan has for many years been one of the highest ranked communities in terms of home sales prices in the United States. The recent sales have just added to the overall success of the real estate market in south Florida. We feel very fortunate that Mr. Ellison and others chose Manalapan for their residential and commercial property investments,” Deese said in an email.

Ellison’s purchase of the Eau Palm Beach hotel now serves as a prime attraction for high-net-worth potential buyers. Stewart Satter, the local developer of a recently listed $285 million mansion adjacent to Ellison’s property in Manalapan, said Ellison’s plans for the hotel could become a focal point of the area.

“The hotel has the potential to be an extraordinary property in the town,” Satter told Bloomberg. “And Ellison certainly has a reputation for operating some beautiful resorts.”

Ellison purchased the majority of the Hawaiian island of Lanai in 2012 for an estimated $300 million, and through his company, Pulama Lanai, has remodeled the island’s two Four Seasons resort hotels, and received praise for new, ultra-luxe touches. Among the additions debuted in 2016 at the Four Seasons Resort Lanai were a $21,000 per night “Alii Royal Suite,” as well as grotto-style pools and iPad Air devices in every room to order room service and housekeeping, among other amenities, according to SFGate.

At the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, Ellison has also promised renovations and has installed a pop-up Nobu restaurant on-site, Bloomberg reported. Nobu appears to be a favorite of Ellison’s. He and Tesla CEO Elon Musk brought Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang there last year to beg him for more GPUs. Ellison said he picked up the tab.

Another draw of Manalapan and the surrounding areas is the proximity to Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s “Winter White House,” where he often spends weekends, according to Palm Beach County Commissioner Maria Sachs.

“Every place in that area is having a moment because of Donald Trump,” Sachs told Bloomberg. “You are so close to Mar-a-Lago, you can get a membership and everyone knows that he’s very public there.”

A version of this story originally published on Fortune.com on March 21, 2025.

More on real estate:

In a frozen luxury housing market, buyers are asking to ‘try before they buy’ and having sleepovers in multimillion-dollar mansions
Gen Z is defiantly ‘giving up’ on ever owning a home and is spending more than saving, working less, and making risky investments, study shows
A ‘new era’ in the housing market is about to begin as affordability finally improves ‘for the first time in a bunch of years,’ economist says

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Business

CEO of Boeing and Lockheed rocket joint venture ULA resigns

Published

28 minutes ago

December 22, 2025

Jace Porter

Tory Bruno, the chief executive officer of Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.’s rocket joint venture United Launch Alliance, has resigned after serving in the position for nearly 12 years.

Chief Operating Officer John Elbon will serve as interim CEO, ULA’s board of directors announced on Monday.

One of SpaceX’s biggest rivals, ULA is one of an elite group of companies that is authorized to launch the most sensitive satellites for the US military. During his tenure leading ULA, Bruno oversaw the retirement and phasing out of the company’s older Delta and Atlas rockets, while spearheading the development of a new rocket called Vulcan.

“We are grateful for Tory’s service to ULA and the country, and we thank him for his leadership,” the ULA board said in a statement. Bruno is leaving to pursue another opportunity, the statement said.

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Business

Jim Beam halts production at key US distillery amid bourbon glut

Published

59 minutes ago

December 22, 2025

Jace Porter

Bourbon maker Jim Beam plans to pause production at its main US distillery for all of 2026 after slumping demand caused an oversupply of whiskey.

The brand, owned by Japanese alcohol giant Suntory Holdings Ltd., said it’s halting whiskey distillation at the James B. Beam campus in Clermont, Kentucky after an assessment of its production levels against consumer demand, according to a statement on Monday.

The company plans to use the downtime to invest in site enhancements. Production will still continue at the smaller Fred B. Noe craft distillery in Clermont and the Booker Noe site in Boston, it added.

Sales of bourbon have slowed as consumers rein in spending and drinking, and as uncertainty over the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and taxes on aging barrels weigh on the sector, the Kentucky Distillers’ Association said in October. There are about 16.1 million barrels — a record — of bourbon aging in warehouses in Kentucky as of January, though most won’t be ready to bottle until after 2030, the association said.

Jim Beam, which employs about 6,000 people worldwide, did not announce layoffs. Bottling and warehousing operations will continue at the brand’s James B. Beam campus, while its visitor center and restaurant remain open, it said.

Suntory, which also owns soft drinks such as Orangina, is grappling with the fallout of Takeshi Niinami’s resignation as chief executive officer in September after Japanese police raided his home as part of an investigation into suspected illegal cannabis-based supplements. Niinami was one of the country’s best-known and most outspoken business leaders.

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Business

New luxury airline seeks top first class and will only fly to a handful of cities

Published

1 hour ago

December 22, 2025

Jace Porter

As premium travel becomes an increasingly important part of the airline industry, a new carrier is launching that looks to offer an experience beyond first class but without the enormous cost of chartering a private jet.

Florida-based Magnifica Air expects to begin service in 2027, with plans for six to seven daily departures, connecting to Miami, New York, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Dallas, and Houston. The airline will also offer seasonal service to Napa Valley and the Caribbean.

Magnifica has long-term lease agreements with Air Lease for six new Airbus aircraft, including four A220-300s and two A321-200neos. The A321neo will fly on longer-haul routes and include four private suites, while the A220-300 will serve mid-haul routes and have two suites.

Each plane will carry only 45–54 passengers—less than half what they carry for typical airlines—and there will be no overhead bins, increasing cabin space even more.

Magnifica Air

Service begins with a driver who picks up passengers and takes them to a private terminal, where they will not have to wait in a TSA line, while a concierge handles their luggage.

Travelers can arrive just 30 minutes before departure. Prior to takeoff, they can partake in fine dining and wellness offerings. While onboard, there’s curated entertainment and tailored dining in the privacy of suites and recliners. After landing, baggage arrives in 10–15 minutes, while chauffeurs wait curbside.

“Right now, if you want a truly luxurious experience, you’ve got two options: Pay 10 times the cost of a first-class ticket for a private jet, or deal with the frustrations of commercial first-class travel, where you’re still treated like just another number. Magnifica Air is stepping into that space between,” the airline said. “We’re offering a fully private, seamless experience for a fraction of what you’d pay to charter a jet.”

Magnifica hasn’t disclosed any details on ticket prices yet, but a spokesperson said they will vary by route and dynamic demand. Meanwhile, renting a private jet can cost several thousand dollars per hour.

The airline has announced prices for its “The Seven Club” membership, which will offer priority access and tailored service, as well as invitations to major events like Art Basel and the Super Bowl. Family memberships will start from $14,950 and corporate membership from $29,950.

Magnifica comes as the main airlines have become more reliant on first-class and business-class passengers.

In October, Delta Air Lines said for the first time ever it expects sales of premium seats will overtake those of its traditional main cabin offerings by 2026, a full year earlier than previously expected.

“Premium products used to be loss leaders, and now they’re the highest-margin products,” Delta President Glen Hauenstein told analysts on an earnings call.

He added Delta is seeing “many, many more opportunities in premium in the coming years” and cited investments in Los Angeles, Boston, New York, and Seattle “where a considerable amount of premium lives. Delta historically wasn’t as big in those markets as we are now.”

At the same time, Delta has introduced an extra-high-end tier of lounges as its Delta Sky Club lounges grow more overcrowded.

It’s indicative of the K-shaped economy, in which the top 10% of households accounted for nearly 50% of all consumer spending in the second quarter of 2025, according to Moody’s Analytics.

Even low-cost carriers like Frontier Airlines are reducing capacity in economy class to add first-class seats.

“We’ve listened to customers, and they want more—more premium options, like first class seating, attainable seat upgrades, more free travel for their companions, and the ability to use miles on more than just airfare,” Frontier CEO Barry Biffle said last year.

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