You build a software company from the ground up, earn a few billion dollars, and just when you want to buy a nice little island in Hawaii where you can fish and skinny dip in peace, a rival pirate from the Valley swoops in and threatens to take it from you. That's the situation that billionaire software tycoons Bill Gates and Larry Ellison have found themselves in, according to Pacific Business News. The founders of Microsoft and Oracle respectively have both set their sights on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, which recently went on sale for a sum reportedly north of $500 million.
A third billionaire, David Murdock, is selling the island, Hawaii's sixth largest, and both Gates and Ellison have a personal connection to it. For his wedding to Melinda, Bill rented out the entirety of Lanai back in 1994, and Ellison currently owns a vacation home in the exotic locale.
Bidding for the island is expected to end soon, and it's not yet clear whether either man will emerge victorious. For whoever loses, may we suggest French Polynesia?
[via CNET]
