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Tech billionaire Vinod Khosla says he wishes he never bought the beach near his $37 million estate. But he will fight …


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Locals walk the path through Vinod Khosla’s property to Martin’s Beach, a small swath of the California coastline that Khosla is fighting to keep off-limits to the public.
source
Robert Galbraith/Reuters
  • Tech billionaire Vinod Khosla is fighting to make a
    beach near his $37 million estate off-limits to the
    public.
  • In an interview with The New York Times, Khosla said he
    wished he had “never bought the property,” but he will continue
    to fight for his privacy based on “principle.”
  • Khosla also said he realizes how the controversy has
    forever changed his legacy: “A billionaire is a bad word
    in this country now,” Khosla told the Times. “And that pains
    me.”

Tech billionaire and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has spent a
decade fighting to keep a beach near his $37 million estate
off-limits to the public. It’s an exhausting thing – the
63-year-old tech legend has become known as California’s “beach
villain” – but he’s not giving up the battle.

In an
interview with The New York Times
, Khosla gave his side of a
story that has the famed tech figure pitted against California
surfers and policymakers since 2008, when he bought the 53-acre
hillside known as Martin’s Beach and closed it to the public.

“I mean, look, to be honest, I do wish I’d never bought the
property,” Khosla told The Times. “In the end, I’m going to end
up selling it.”

He added, “If this hadn’t ever started, I’d be so happy. But once
you’re there in principle, you can’t give up principle.”

vinod khosla

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The battle between tech titan Vinod Khosla and California activists is heating up.
source
Mario Anzuoni / REUTERS

In 2008, Khosla – who made his fortune as an investor at his own
venture fund and as a cofounder of Sun Microsystems – paid a
reported $37 million for a shorefront parcel near Half Moon Bay,
about an hour south of San Francisco. For many decades, surfers
and families had enjoyed the beach, which is known for its
stunning geological formations, picnic areas, and ideal surfing
waves.

When Khosla put a padlock on the gate providing access to
Martin’s Beach, locals
revolted. A California appeals court later ruled that
Khosla violated
state law
when he blocked the public from
reaching the beach without a permit, and forced him to reopen the
gate.

Khosla aims to take his case to the nation’s highest court.

martins beach vinod khosla 8

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Before Vinod Khosla bought the property, surfers and families enjoyed Martin’s Beach for decades. They paid a small parking fee to the previous landowners.
source
Robert Galbraith/Reuters

In February,
Khosla filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court
to overturn
the ruling, on the grounds that he does not need a permit to
maintain a gate on his own property. If the Supreme Court decides
to hear his case, the results could have major consequences for
programs that manage beach property rights across the nation.

“If I were to ever win in the Supreme Court, I’d be
depressed about it,” Khosla told the Times. “I support the
Coastal Act; I don’t want to weaken it by winning. But property
rights are even more important.”

His tech pedigree and iconoclastic
pronouncements about investing
made Khosla
Ventures one of the most closely-watched venture firms in Silicon
Valley. But Khosla tells the Times he knows the controversy
around his property is very much part of his legacy now.

“A billionaire is a bad word in this country now,” Khosla
said. “And that pains me.”





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