Palantir founder purchases large swath of forest in Sweden(www.arctictoday.com)
95 pointsby davidja2 hours ago17 comments
  • tomberta minute ago
    I do not understand billionaires. I don't know why Alex Karp is buying large chunks of forests, the vast majority of which he will never see. I don't know why Larry Ellison is buying entire Hawaiian islands he'll never be able to fully use. I don't know understand the appeal of any of this shit.

    Is it just that when you're worth billions, hoardings thousands of Steam games you'll never play isn't enough?

  • Jabblesan hour ago
    Note that the red area on the map in the article is Härjedalen, which has an area of 11,405 km^2, 1.1M hectares, 2.8M acres.

    The purchased forest (15k hectares, 37k acres) is therefore ~1.3% of the region.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A4rjedalen

  • robin_realaan hour ago
    That’s a strange map in the article. It makes it looks like he’s bought all of Härjedalen, rather than two orders of magnitude less. It’s still a chunky piece of land, but it’s definitely not that big.
  • spankalee15 minutes ago
    If you believe in global threats from AI, global warming, Russia and/or China, this probably isn't a bad place to build a bunker.
  • dylanzan hour ago
    He's a huge cross country skier so he probably wants his own little playground
  • sorenjanan hour ago
    I don't know exactly where the land is, but according to media it's south of Storsjö kapell [0]. There's plenty of fell there, and he can't just build whatever he wants even if he owns the land. When a billionaire says he spent $22 million to by it for recreation, I don't see a big reason to not believe him, there's not much else he can use it for.

    It's not far from Funäsdalen which is a relatively popular ski resort [1], there are also hiking trails and similar [2].

    The seller SCA is Europe's biggest private forest owner and owns 2.7 million hectares by the way.

    [0] https://maps.app.goo.gl/hQp2Rw9tM6kWTuTdA

    [1] https://funasdalen.se/en/winter/skiing/cross-country-skiing/

    [2] https://funasdalen.se/en/summer/hiking/

    • stuaxo22 minutes ago
      It's easy to not believe because so many billionaires act with impunity and don't follow laws.

      Billionaires associated with that company especially.

    • thenayr10 minutes ago
      [dead]
  • theropostan hour ago
    Why does it quote 37,000 acres, then show a picture with a large swath of Sweden highlighted as if that is the area purchased - though Sweden is approximately 111 million acres of land, so this would be 0.003% of the land, so nowhere near the representation in this picture - seem disingenuous to me.
    • loeg27 minutes ago
      Disingenuous sells more clicks, of course.
  • bpodgurskyan hour ago
    $600/acre for timber forest???

    I had no idea Sweden was this cheap. Why wouldn't he drop $22mm on this...

    • sorenjanan hour ago
      Considering where it is it might be protected from logging, so the economic value of the land might be low. The seller is a paper manufacturer, so if they could get more value from it they would have charged more.
    • Ekarosan hour ago
      It is somewhat north. So I would expect potential income to be in line. Thus price can be relatively low and there still is not much profit.
    • mahboian hour ago
      Guessing it's more expensive if you're buying less, otherwise I kinda want to buy 4 acres.
    • nazgulsenpaian hour ago
      Perhaps there's a reason Sweden wants him to have all of this land.
    • khatan hour ago
      [dead]
    • moralestapiaan hour ago
      Nothing to see here. There's no corruption in the civilized world, even less in Nordic countries which are maximally developed culturally and socially.
  • conorcleary42 minutes ago
    Probably as retaliation to SAAB.
  • nalekberovan hour ago
    > Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, purchased 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) of forest in Härjedalen, Sweden, for 235 million kronor ($22 million).

    Seems like he could buy all of Sweden's forests if he wanted to.

    • NewJazzan hour ago
      But would he still have Palantir? Also a large portion of thr forests are likely in public trust, and they'd be hesitant to sell all of it I'd think. Especially to one person with no track record of land management.
  • LucaFromAlphaan hour ago
    what's that meme about rich people just doing really rich stuff and not worrying about being some BS worldly image? yeah that.
  • Noe209742 minutes ago
    Wow, that would make such a nice area to train (military) drones & robots, and in the middle of a country concerned by "noisy neighbors"

    ... Wait

  • blondie9xan hour ago
    Do we know what the goal was? Was this to protect forest land? Similar to something like this? https://www.nicfi.no/2024/12/10/norway-strengthens-support-o...

    Although I'm not sure what Norway is attempting is actually working - similar to what we see with carbon credits essentially showing no material decrease in greenhouse gas emission growth. Indonesia is going through some of the worst wildfires ever experienced in human history at the moment. https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cqevw9y34y34t

    • newsclues22 minutes ago
      carbon credits? and skiing?
    • NewJazzan hour ago
      Bunker.
      • bigyabai17 minutes ago
        Nah. Sweden has much better places for bunkers than the forest, many of them pre-built into the mountains or on private property.

        Given the current turmoil, building a bunker in the Swedish forest would be like building your porch underneath a tree with 50 beehives.

  • bigbuppoan hour ago
    I mean, the first thing I did when I came into money was buy a couple thousand acres of land.
  • mertleeean hour ago
    Assuming this is for conservation, it's hard to find reasons this is a bad thing.
    • fnordpigletan hour ago
      This is where he will build 50 silos
      • elias_tan hour ago
        They probably already have nano technology
      • xhevahiran hour ago
        He's probably buying it so that he can ski through miles of virgin forest with his Norwegian bodyguards. I hate this weirdo but he's probably not going to do much to the landscape.
    • subscribedan hour ago
      This is a quite far fetched assumption.

      I can't recall anything he said or did in the last few years that would make me assume he's done something good for the general public (or the humanity), and not for himself first and foremost.

    • mahboian hour ago
      Why would Alex Karp randomly buy Swedish forest for conservation?
      • xhevahiran hour ago
        Skiing. He arranges his life around Nordic skiing to an incredible degree.
        • fhdkweigan hour ago
          I don't really know anything about skiing, but can you do that in a virgin old-growth forest?
          • raddanan hour ago
            Yes. All you really need are paths. This is a bit of an overgeneralization since forests in different places have different growth habits, but many old growth forests have less underbrush. During the winter, these forests are pretty easy to navigate on Nordic skis. If he wants to skate instead of doing the classic stride, I’m sure he can afford to groom the paths. Grooming really just requires a fancy snowmobile.
          • germinalphrasean hour ago
            Potentially. Depending on the style of skiing, you may only need a 2-3 ft wide pathway. That said, ski paths tend to be cleared of trees/large rocks and span about 10-15 feet wide.
          • raframan hour ago
            Who said it's a virgin old-growth forest?
            • Ekarosan hour ago
              I too doubt it is actually old-growth. Probably industrial forest. Which means that there is plenty of space around most of the trees.
          • daneel_wan hour ago
            It might not get to remain a virgin old-growth forest. If the Swedish logging companies can get away with it, he probably can, too.
        • fragmede35 minutes ago
          Couldn't let the Netflix guy buy up the one in Utah and have bragging rights.
        • cryptolobsteran hour ago
          It still seems a bit strange
        • mahboian hour ago
          Ok that makes a lot more sense
      • fhdkweigan hour ago
        Trying to buy himself back into heaven, like Bill Gates did. We only have the article's quotation for evidence, but it does say:

        > Karp made the purchase through his newly registered company Cladonia Skog AB. The chairman of Cladonia told the Swedish newspaper that the land provides valuable habitat for wildlife and space for recreation.

        • colordropsan hour ago
          He plans to create a ground for hunting humans, a la "The Most Dangerous Game".
          • moralestapiaan hour ago
            I wouldn't be surprised.

            Karp strikes me as the type of person that would do this "for fun".

      • unreal6an hour ago
        It is well known he loves to nordic ski

        https://fortune.com/well/2023/02/03/billionaire-palantir-ceo...

    • Naillikan hour ago
      What are your reasons for assuming that would be the motive of the Palantir founder?
    • jacquesman hour ago
      Why would you assume that?
    • mcarper826an hour ago
      agreed
    • popalchemistan hour ago
      why the hell would you assume altruism of the man who takes pride in killing people with automations
  • silverForkan hour ago
    Ai farm to be.. I suspect.
    • david_shawan hour ago
      > Ai farm to be.. I suspect.

      I suspect the opposite: a billionaire's escape from a potentially turbulent society.

      • silverForkan hour ago
        Could be.. zillionaires usually like mountains; I hear he can't drive; driving the boonies far from civilization is not that easy in the winter. He needs to buy a big shovel for the winter.
        • john_strinlaian hour ago
          >I hear he can't drive; driving the boonies far from civilization is not that easy in the winter. He needs to buy a big shovel for the winter.

          that's what helicopters are for.

          -zillionaires, probably

          • silverFork43 minutes ago
            He needs a landing strip for an aircraft. Helicopters are dangerous at night. No uber eats delivery there. We will see. It will take a decade to set it up.
            • cheschire26 minutes ago
              Who needs Uber Eats when you can afford to house a personal chef on campus?
              • tadasv11 minutes ago
                Lol, if we're talking about a scenario like this, do you think these billionaires are like Noah with their arc, just collecting people to survive? I cannot see a sane person joining them or not ratting them out if things really go bad.
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      • tadasv13 minutes ago
        I don't understand why people have this silly take that billionaires somehow will hide in the bunker and be fine. Do you really think that if we get to that point, they will happily live in a bunker by themselves lol. These people are unable to survive by themselves, let alone in a bunker. Do you think food and shit will get delivered to some random location just like that when shtf.
        • fragmede7 minutes ago
          they have food and water to last decades in the bunker without needing external supplies. Why would they need to be supplied from the outside world? that's the entire point! (agree with the rest of your point though)
      • ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7an hour ago
        or... just plain old land speculation?
        • silverFork32 minutes ago
          Yup it could be but speculation needs a cause.. Hard assets are the rage right now anyways for AI zillionaires. He has apparently bought a monastery in Colorado for $120M; Miami beach house for $55M; 500 acre land in New Hampshire. His net worth is about $20B, $22M is like buying a toy to him and it is not a major investment.
  • eichinan hour ago
    Maybe he wants his own version of Nathan's estate in Ex Machina (redditor calculations from in-movie clues put it at 7 million hectares, though, so this isn't even close :-)