Billionaire SpaceX investor is selling his private island for $7.9M or best offer — but Tanzania says the land isn't his

Billionaires sometimes reach for the unorthodox when it's time to sell — like what Tim Draper just did on X .

Tim Draper, the venture capitalist who backed SpaceX and Tesla early and is worth about $2.3 billion by Forbes' estimate, went as far as dropping his email address in a tweet. He wants you or a serious buyer to reach out to him personally and directly — with no broker involved — for a 110-acre island in Tanzania, in case you have $7.9 million and are interested.

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Draper took to X on August 28 to announce that he'd like serious buyers to send him an email about it, and also for a possible negotiation. "Gorgeous place, but we don't use it enough," he wrote on the platform, adding that he'd take $7.9 million or the best offer.

There's no broker or any site listing in his post. And the strategy seemed to work quickly for him: Draper told Forbes on August 29 that he already had several offers and thought the island "[would] be sold quickly."

But on August 31, the Tanzanian government stepped in.

What Tanzania says is actually changing hands

The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development issued a public notice on Aug. 31 after seeing Draper's post circulate on social media. The one-page statement, in Swahili, doesn't dispute that he wants to sell. It spells out what he actually holds.

The island is one of the areas designated for investment under the Tanzania Investment and Special Economic Zones Authority, the ministry said, and TISEZA "is the owner under the law." TISEZA leased the area and granted a derivative right to Firelight Safaris Ltd, the company that runs the resort, "for use as a tourist hotel." Draper, the statement said, "is among the shareholders." Firelight's own website describes him as a director who "became a part of the company" after a safari with its founders, Tom and Belinda Lithgow.

And the law behind that is Tanzania's Land Act , which treats all land as public land held by the president as trustee, so nobody there holds freehold, citizen or foreigner. Non-citizens can only occupy land for investment purposes, and the state's own investment guidance says land may be leased for up to 99 years but cannot be sold to foreigners. A buyer isn't getting the island.