Dion Pingree
A US billionaire who could make millions of pounds from Labour’s controversial digital ID cards project is quietly building a luxury private ‘compound’ in the Oxfordshire countryside, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Larry Ellison, the fifth-richest man in the world, has been gradually buying up neighbouring land and properties to amass a huge estate where he plans to build guest lodges, housing for around 20 live-in staff, several gyms, an indoor basketball court and a large horse stables.
Mr Ellison is chairman of tech giant Oracle, which has a £700million IT deal with four Whitehall departments, and in recent years he has donated a staggering £257million to a think tank run by Tony Blair, a long-standing close friend.
In September the MoS revealed that staff from Oracle and Ellison’s technology institute had met with ministers and senior officials 29 times in nine months after Sir Tony urged the then Business Secretary Peter Kyle to consult the institute.
The former prime minister has long lobbied for the introduction of digital IDs, which some experts say Oracle could be in pole position to profit from.
On Tuesday, it emerged that Labour had reversed its plan to make digital IDs mandatory for proving the right to work. However, the IDs will still be introduced in 2029 and offered on a voluntary basis, providing access to most public services.
And now, in what signals a deepening commitment to his UK interests, this newspaper has discovered that Ellison has quietly been building his own estate from the ground up on a rural enclave near Abingdon in Oxfordshire. It is believed to be the first time Ellison has bought residential property for himself in the UK.
Last night, neighbours, who wished to remain anonymous, told the MoS that the scale and disruption of the ongoing work has been ‘very frustrating’ and that Ellison had ‘tried to keep it a secret’ as to who was behind the project.
They added that security guards now walk around the perimeter of the property every hour with dogs, and that there’s frustration locally about the string of CCTV cameras that Ellison has put up on tall poles, facing public roads.
They said: ‘He can do anything he likes because he is occasionally the richest man in the world. It irritates us beyond belief because this is supposed to be quiet countryside.’
We can reveal that the development began in November 2020, when a sprawling contemporary-style mansion set within nine acres of landscaped grounds was bought for £8million through an overseas company, Jozu UK LLC, of which Ellison is the sole beneficial owner.
The property boasts an indoor swimming pool as well as a gym, sauna, wine cellar, ‘entertainment barn’, library, housekeeper’s apartment and an indoor tennis court, which he built after buying the property.
Since then, adjoining land and properties have been bought up one by one through Jozu UK, including a large estate and collection of properties bought for £10million in May 2024.
A raft of planning applications for major building works across the estate have been launched in recent months by the same company, including for a brand-new, 10-bedroom staff building which will include ‘a communal gym, kitchen, dining and sitting room and external kennels for security dogs’.
The plans, currently under consultation, also include further accommodation so that 18 household and security staff can live in and provide ‘24-hour coverage’ to Ellison’s main residence.
Separate proposals which are currently being considered by the council include for the building of a large, rustic-style barn which will contain a basketball court, the erection of stables for six horses and a sizeable riding arena, an indoor multi-use games building and three, interconnected guest and staff lodges. All of the works are intended for Ellison’s private use.
Last night, one neighbour said: ‘We wanted to live somewhere quiet and dark, to see the stars at night, but there’s now bright garden lights on all night at his house. We used to be able to see the Milky Way, and now we can’t.
‘We had a summer of hearing trees being felled, and then the lorries arrived with new trees to put in.’
Another neighbour said: ‘When he’s here you don’t see him. He keeps very much to himself inside, which is why he’s building so much, so he doesn’t have to leave.’
Ellison, 81, married his fifth wife Jolin Zhu, 33, around seven years ago and there’s speculation locally that many of the building works are being done for her benefit.
The estate sits just a 20-minute drive away from where the tycoon is building his £1billion Ellison Institute of Technology campus, and is only 40 minutes from Blair’s Grade 1-listed 18th century mansion near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.
Ellison owns an enormous global real-estate portfolio including the Hawaiian island of LÄna‘i, huge estates in California, mansions in Rhode Island, major beachfront compounds in Florida and properties in San Francisco and Kyoto, Japan.
Mr Ellison was approached for comment.
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