Google billionaire Larry Page trades California for Miami with two $173M mansions

A Proposed Wealth Tax Sparks an Exodus

Google co-founder Larry Page just made one of the biggest real estate moves in Miami history.

He bought two waterfront estates in the Coconut Grove neighborhood for a combined $173.4 million, solidifying his exit from California ahead of a proposed tax that could cost him billions.

Page is currently ranked as the world’s second-richest person, and if the tax passed and applied retroactively to residents as of January 1, 2026, analysts estimate it could cost him well over $10 billion.

He is not alone. At least six billionaires left the Golden State before the new year, and more may follow.

Page Pays $101.5M for First Estate

Page paid $101.5 million in December for a 4.5-acre Biscayne Bay waterfront estate that previously belonged to restaurateur Jonathan Lewis. The property had been listed for up to $135 million before selling at a discount.

The estate, designed in the 1920s for former U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, includes two main residences, a private gym, spa facilities, and a resort-style pool overlooking Biscayne Bay.

The deal was the most expensive U.S. home sale in December and the fourth-priciest overall in 2025.

He Buys a Second Mansion Days Later

On January 5, 2026, Page bought a nearby 17,000-square-foot estate with seven bedrooms for $71.9 million from Sloan and Roger Barnett.

Roger Barnett is the CEO of Shaklee Corporation, and his wife Sloan is a journalist.

The second property, built around 2015 and located less than a mile from the first, nearly doubled in value in less than five years.

The Barnetts had purchased it in 2021 for $45.9 million. Together, Page’s two acquisitions totaled $173.4 million.

California Proposes a 5% Billionaire Tax

The purchases came as California considers a ballot measure that has billionaires scrambling.

The initiative would levy a one-time 5% tax on the accumulated wealth of billionaires in the state to fund health care programs like Medi-Cal.

Billionaires living in California on January 1, 2026, would have to pay the tax in 2027, with the option to spread payments over five years.

California would likely raise tens of billions of dollars from the wealth tax, according to the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Page Moves His Business Out of California

Public filings show several business entities linked to Page were moved out of California in December, ahead of the January 1, 2026, residency date tied to the proposed tax.

Those filings indicate his family office, Koop LLC, and his influenza research fund, Flu Lab LLC, no longer operate in California, while a flying-car venture, One Aero, now lists its primary address in Florida.

A source told reporters that Page has already left the state.

California residency is determined by factors like time spent in the state and the location of major business interests.

Six Billionaires Left Before the Deadline

Page was not the only one racing to get out. At least a half-dozen billionaires left California before the new year in the face of the proposed 5% tax on their wealth, according to financial advisers to the rich.

David Lesperance, who specializes in relocation, said he personally helped four billionaires leave the state ahead of the January 1 residency cutoff date.

Peter Thiel and David Sacks both publicly announced new office locations on New Year’s Eve as they departed for Florida and Texas, respectively.

Bezos Set the Miami Playbook in 2023

Page’s move mirrors the strategy used by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Bezos announced in 2023 he would relocate to Miami after decades in Washington state, then quickly assembled a South Florida compound by buying multiple estates in Indian Creek Village for a reported total of around $237 million within nine months.

Indian Creek is known as the Billionaire Bunker, a guard-gated island with only 41 homes and its own police force. Bezos saved an estimated $1 billion in taxes by making the move.

Florida Has No State Income Tax

The draw for billionaires is simple: Florida imposes no income tax at the state level. There is no estate tax, no inheritance tax, and no wealth tax.

Florida is one of nine U.S. states with no income tax, meaning residents and companies do not have to pay taxes on their wages, salaries, or business profits.

For someone like Page, with a net worth around $272 billion, the savings over a lifetime are enormous. California, by contrast, has the highest marginal income tax rate in the country at 13.3%.

Coconut Grove Attracts the Ultra-Wealthy

Page chose Coconut Grove, one of Miami’s oldest and most exclusive neighborhoods.

In September 2022, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin purchased an expansive 4-acre estate in Coconut Grove for $106.875 million from philanthropist Adrienne Arsht. That sale set a record for Miami-Dade County at the time.

Since Griffin bought a home in the Grove and relocated his company to Miami in 2022, he has donated $100 million to local hospitals and committed $50 million to help bring the charter school Success Academy to Miami-Dade County.

The Tax Still Needs 875,000 Signatures

The proposed wealth tax is not yet law. The initiative needs 546,651 valid signatures, and the deadline for signature verification is June 25, 2026.

Supporters have until then to collect enough names to place it on the November 2026 ballot. Attorneys say the retroactive provision makes it a certain target for lawsuits.

While the Supreme Court has allowed some retroactive taxes when there is a rational legislative purpose, they are less likely to allow it with the creation of a wholly new tax.

Newsom Opposes the Wealth Tax

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat often mentioned as a future presidential candidate, has come out against the measure.

Newsom said California has to be pragmatic, noting the state cannot isolate itself from the 49 other states in a competitive environment.

His office told reporters that Newsom has repeatedly opposed state-level wealth taxes because they would drive a race to the bottom.

Critics say the tax could backfire if billionaires leave and take their existing tax contributions with them.

Jensen Huang Says He Will Stay

Not every billionaire is running for the exits. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told reporters he is perfectly fine with the proposed tax.

Huang, worth around $160 billion, said he has not even thought about it once.

“We chose to live in Silicon Valley, and whatever taxes they would like to apply, so be it,” Huang said.

His stance makes him an outlier among California’s tech elite, many of whom have remained silent or have already started moving assets out of state.

Founders Worry About the Future

The exodus is not just about current billionaires.

Entrepreneurs with fewer commas in their net worth are also considering leaving the state, as the risks of the proposed ballot initiative start to come into focus.

Brianne Kimmel, founder of San Francisco-based Worklife Ventures, said the majority of her portfolio companies based in California have begun drafting contingency plans to leave the state if the ballot measure passes.

Some investors warn that the next generation of billion-dollar startups may never get built in California at all.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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