Hawaii’s richest resident is eBay founder Pierre Omidyar

• Forbes has determined who the richest resident of each US state is.
• Despite all the big stars flocking to Hawaii, elusive eBay founder Pierre Omidyar takes the state crown.
• Omidyar has given away $1.5 billion of his fortune since 2014.

America’s elite have long looked to Hawaii as the ideal tropical paradise for their vacation homes.

Notable island neighbors include billionaires like Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel and Oracle founder Larry Ellison.

But despite the big names and flashy personalities of Hawaii’s ultra-wealthy residents, it’s media-shy eBay founder Pierre Omidyar who is the island state’s wealthiest permanent resident, according to Forbes’ list of the richest billionaires in each state for 2024.

In total, Forbes calculated that 47 out of 50 US states are home to 54 billionaires. Together they are worth $1.6 trillion.

Omidyar contributes only $6.5 billion to that total.

This Iranian-American of French origin founded eBay in 1995. In three years, he had earned his first billion thanks to the online auction house.

In 2002, eBay acquired online payment company PayPal for $1.5 billion. It was created in 2015 to allow eBay to develop its own payment system.

In 2020, Omidyar left the eBay board as part of a broader overhaul of the company. This departure is not linked to any disagreement with the company, reported the Wall Street Journal.

He remains active in the company and retains the role of emeritus director.

Omidyar also became involved in investigative journalism, creating First Look Media which later launched the online news site The Intercept.

He also developed real estate in Mexico while residing in Honolulu, the capital of the state of Hawaii, with his wife Pamela.

According to Forbes, the 56-year-old is the 444th richest person in the world. Since 2004, he has donated more than $1.5 billion of his fortune through impact investments and philanthropic efforts.

He is a longtime donor to the Democratic Party and a well-known critic of Big Tech. In 2020, the Omidyar Group donated $150,000 to Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit that represented Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Omidyar took first place in Hawaii ahead of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison.

Although Ellison still owns 98 percent of the entire island of Hawaii, records now list California as his primary residence, according to Forbes.

The same goes for Mark Zuckerburg and Jeff Bezos, who took home the top spots in their primary residences in California and Florida, respectively.

In 2021, Bezos and his now-fiancee Lauren Sanchez broke records by purchasing the most expensive property ever sold on the Hawaiian island, according to Architectural summary. The couple paid $78 million for a 14-acre property on the island of Maui.