Google co-founder Larry Page has quietly — or loudly — joined California’s billionaire exodus, moving business east and dropping an estimated $173 million on two ultra-luxurious beachfront villas in Miami’s Coconut Grove, in a move that looks strikingly similar to Jeff Bezos’s relocation playbook. The timing, structure and destination of Page’s escape from Silicon Valley make his Florida pivot seem downright Bezos-ian.
In late December and early January, The Wall Street Journal reported, Page picked up two neighboring properties in Miami’s Coconut Grove, paying about $101.5 million for one waterfront complex and $71.9 million for another in an off-market transaction, for a combined outlay of about $173.4 million. One of the homes, previously listed for $135 million, spans 13 bedrooms and 15.5 bathrooms and sits directly on the water, while the second, purchased from heiress Sloan Lindemann Barnett and her husband Roger Barnett, has nearly doubled in value in less than five years.
The acquisitions plant Page right in one of Miami’s most exclusive enclaves, long favored by global elites seeking privacy, water access and modest luxury. Local brokers say his awkward entry is part of a larger wave of high-net-worth Californians eyeing Coconut Grove and other South Florida neighborhoods as they hedge against looming tax changes as they move to trophy waterfront properties. Real estate purchases double as both a luxury retreat and a massive tax-saving tool, with Page, the most prominent of California’s ultra-rich, choosing to leave as state lawmakers target fortunes like his with an aggressive wealth tax push.
Behind the real estate headlines, Page methodically severed his financial and legal ties to California ahead of a proposed wealth tax targeting residents worth more than $1 billion. Regulatory filings show he has moved his family office and several investment and holding entities out of state, Business Insider reported, reincorporating key vehicles in Delaware and listing new business addresses in Florida.
The New York Times Page had previously told associates he was considering Florida specifically because of a proposed ballot measure that would impose a 5 percent annual tax on the worldwide assets of California-based billionaires. If enacted and retroactively applied to residents from Jan. 1, 2026, analysts estimate the tax could cost Page — currently ranked as the world’s second-richest person — well over $10 billion.
Some Silicon Valley executives, notably Anduril’s Palmer Luckey, have warned that such an outcome is possible, saying that at the end of December the founders will have to sell parts of their companies to pay for “fraud, waste and political favors for organizations supporting this ballot initiative.” California Republic Ro Khanna replied to Timesreporting that Page and Peter Thiel were looking to leave by flagging the story on X and saying, apparently sarcastically, in the style of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “I’m going to miss them a lot.”