Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison is set to have a busy summer. In addition to prepping his Oracle Team USA yacht to defend the America’s Cup in San Francisco, the software mogul is set to exhibit his rarely seen, world-class collection of Japanese art and artifacts at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. “In the Moment: Japanese Art from the Larry Ellison Collection” will be on display from June 28 to September 22 and will feature about 80 works spanning 1,300 years, including priceless Samurai pieces from the Momoyama (1573-1615) and Edo (1615-1868) periods. Ellison is somewhat obsessed with Samurai culture; his $110 million Woodside, California estate is modeled on a Samurai stronghold.
Last year he launched the 288-foot megayacht Musashi, named after the greatest Samurai warrior who ever lived, one of the world’s 50 largest yachts commissioned from famed Dutch shipyard Feadship, builder of luxury crafts for the likes of Malcolm Forbes, Paul Allen and King Khalid of Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile Ellison recently closed a deal to buy Lanai, Hawaii’s sixth largest island, at a reported cost of over $500 million. The deal includes two Four Seasons Resorts, two championship golf courses and more than 88,000 acres of land. He plans to build a new eco-resort there and recently met with the mayor of Maui aboard the Musashi docked in Honolulu Harbor.
