Google co-founder Larry Page spends $173.4 million on Miami property to avoid California taxes
Google co-founder Larry Page has reportedly moved into a $173.4 million property in Miami to evade potential wealth taxes in California.
He purchased the Banyan Ridge waterfront estate in Coconut Grove (formerly the residence of Jonathan Lewis) for $101.5 million last December, and acquired another nearby property for $71.9 million on January 5, totaling $173.4 million for both transactions.
California's proposed Prop 40 would impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on individuals with a net worth exceeding $1 billion who remain residents of the state as of January 1, 2026; based on Page's current net worth of approximately $292 billion, he would face a tax burden of nearly $15 billion if he stayed in California.
Page has moved his family office, Koop LLC, and other affiliated entities (including Flu Lab LLC and One Aero) out of California and re-registered them in Delaware last December, with some business addresses shifting to Florida.
Florida does not impose personal income tax, capital gains tax, or wealth tax, making it a recent destination for several tech billionaires, including Sergey Brin.
High-end real estate brokers and family offices are handling the capital flowing out of California, putting upward pressure on local luxury property prices, while California's potential tax base shrinks due to the outflow, leaving high-net-worth individuals who remain in the state with a higher relative burden.
Source: Public information
ABAB AI Insight
Page, who accumulated wealth through Google, has established residences and business entities in multiple locations, including obtaining residency in New Zealand, and has long managed assets through his family office. The recent completion of entity relocations and property purchases before the wealth tax proposal's deadline continues his practice of optimizing taxes through legal structures and residency choices.
Capital is being transferred from California entities to Delaware and Florida through family offices and trusts, while simultaneously being invested in Miami waterfront properties, motivated by the desire to sever residential and business ties with California before the proposal takes effect, converting the one-time wealth tax into a fixed cost that can be avoided.
This is similar to the paths taken by Jeff Bezos and Ken Griffin, who previously moved from high-tax states to Florida, and resembles historical cases of the wealthy using multi-state residency and company registration for tax arbitrage; the industry is currently in a phase of capital geographic reallocation driven by regulation, with tech wealth accelerating towards low-tax jurisdictions.
Essentially, this reflects regulatory changes: the state-level one-time wealth tax is based on residency status and net worth, allowing highly mobile capital to exit through entity restructuring and property purchases before the deadline, with the mechanism systematically exploiting the time lag between tax jurisdiction and actual control location.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
- When the tax base moves, capital runs first.
- The deadline is the migration window.
- The prices of tax-free states are the refuges of taxed states.