Rancho Mirage, CA – The 240-acre Porcupine Creek estate, which has its own 19-hole golf course.

It’s no wonder The Wall Street Journal dubbed Ellison “one of the nation’s most voracious consumers of trophy real-estate.”

Why does he buy so much real-estate?

Brokers and real-estate experts who have worked with Ellison tell me that Ellison focuses on one-of-a-kind, super-luxury properties in prime locations. He views them as long-term investments rather than temporary trades or places to live. (He has rarely, if ever, stayed at the Rancho Mirage location, for instance.)

“He looks for properties that are truly rare and special,” said one broker who had worked with Ellison.

Sometimes he pays full price but he is also a value hunter. The Rancho Mirage property, for instance, had once been on the market for more than $75 million. Ellison bought it for $42.9 million.

There is no question that Ellison has enough wealth for all of his personal pursuits. Bloomberg ranks him as the sixth richest man in the world, worth $36.4 billion. Still, there is a difference between liquid wealth and paper wealth.

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