In an interview with The New York Times, he said he regretted buying a 53-acre beachfront hillside in California, but wants people out anyway.
New Delhi: India-born billionaire Vinod Khosla has vowed to continue his fight to keep the public off a beach in California that lies beyond a village of four dozen cottages he bought two decades ago.
The $32.5 million purchase of a 53-acre hillside known as Martin’s Beach also included the only viable path to the beach, which is surrounded by cliffs.
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Caught in a legal tangle since he purchased the property, Khosla said in a recent interview to The New York Times that he would continue the fight for the rest of his life, if need be, even though he thought the purchase was a mistake.
He said the fight, which has now reached the Supreme Court, was a matter of principles.
Venture capitalist Khosla, 63, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, was named among the world’s 400 richest people by Forbes in 2014.
Californians who used the picturesque beach for surfing, picnics and family getaways found themselves barred from entering it soon after he purchased the property as Khosla put a lock on the gate that led to the path.
California law states that property below the mean high tide line — the line of intersection of the land with the water’s surface at the maximum height reached by a rising tide — is meant for public use, and he was slapped with a host of legal notices soon afterwards.
Khosla, who said the decision to buy the property was based on a whim, has repeatedly claimed that since it was his private property, he had the right to bar locals from using the beach.
The billionaire, who has not even spent a night on the property, was forced to open the beach to the public last year after a California court ruling to this effect. The ruling was described by Khosla’s lawyers as a violation of his private property rights.
The state authorities have also sought public funding to recover the costs of buying back the route, which was included in his purchase of the village.