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Billionaires Building Survival Bunkers: What the Hell Is Really Going On?

The ultra-rich are quietly going underground — and the doomsday bunker industry is exploding. Here’s everything you need to know about who’s building, what they’re building, why they’re doing it, and what it all means for the rest of us.

The Bunker Boom Is Real — and It’s Massive

Something strange is happening beneath the estates, remote islands, and mountain retreats of the world’s wealthiest people. While the rest of us scroll through apocalyptic news cycles and wonder what’s coming next, the billionaire class has been quietly pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into underground survival compounds — and the industry catering to them is booming like never before.

Mark Zuckerberg is building a $270–$400 million fortified compound in Hawaii with a 5,000-square-foot underground bunker, its own food supply, water tanks, escape hatches, and soundproofed blast doors. Bill Gates is reportedly building underground security areas beneath every single one of his many homes. Peter Thiel has been trying to construct a survival bunker in New Zealand — and was only stopped by a local community council. Tech moguls, hedge fund managers, Hollywood celebrities, and global industrialists are lining up to spend anywhere from $200,000 to over $100 million on fortified underground retreats.

And the rest of the world is asking the same question: What do they know that we don’t?

The short answer is more uncomfortable than any conspiracy theory. This article breaks down who’s building, what these bunkers actually look like, how much they cost, which companies are building them, what’s driving demand, and what the billionaire bunker boom really says about the state of our world.

The Players: Which Billionaires Are Building Bunkers?

Mark Zuckerberg — Ko’olau Ranch, Hawaii

No bunker story gets more attention than Zuckerberg’s massive Hawaiian compound on the island of Kauai. In late 2023, WIRED reported that the Meta CEO and his wife Priscilla Chan had been quietly buying up enormous swaths of the island. The resulting Ko’olau Ranch — still under construction — stretches across more than 5.5 million square meters, is surrounded by a two-meter perimeter wall, and is patrolled around the clock by security personnel.

What put the world on notice was the revelation that planning documents included a 5,000-square-foot underground bunker accessible via tunnels leading from two separate above-ground mansions. The shelter features its own living space, mechanical room, food supplies, water tank and pump system, and an escape hatch. Doors are soundproofed and keypad-operated. The compound also includes at least 11 treehouses connected by rope bridges, water purification and desalination infrastructure, and multiple mansions with a combined footprint roughly the size of a football field.

Estimated total cost: somewhere between $270 million and $400 million — which sounds shocking until you realize it represents less than 0.2% of Zuckerberg’s net worth. As one analyst noted, that’s proportionally comparable to a millionaire spending about $1,500 on home improvements.

Bill Gates — Underground Security at Every Home

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is widely reported to have underground security areas beneath all of his many homes across the United States. While Gates keeps the details tightly private, security industry insiders have confirmed this over the years. His $125 million “Xanadu 2.0” estate in Medina, Washington — with its 66,000 square feet and underground parking — is generally considered to have one of the most sophisticated private security systems in the world.

Peter Thiel — The New Zealand Dreamer

PayPal co-founder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel has long been associated with New Zealand as a potential survival destination, having obtained New Zealand citizenship in 2011. He owns a 477-acre estate in the country and has been vocal about its appeal as an “apocalypse escape destination.” In 2022, however, a local Queenstown community council blocked his plans to build an ambitious bunker near Lake Wanaka, ruling that the underground shelter would “substantially detract from the quality and naturalness of the outstanding natural landscape.”

Thiel is not alone in his New Zealand obsession. Author Douglas Rushkoff — who wrote the book Survival of the Richest based on his experiences consulting for Silicon Valley billionaires — describes a meeting where tech CEOs peppered him with questions about which regions would be least affected by climate collapse, war, and social unrest. New Zealand consistently tops the list.

Elon Musk — His Bunker Is on Mars

Elon Musk takes a different approach to survival planning. His stated position is that humanity needs to become multi-planetary, with Mars as the ultimate fallback. “If there’s a third world war, we want to make sure there’s enough of a seed of human civilization somewhere else to bring it back and shorten the length of the dark ages,” Musk told audiences at SXSW in 2018. While Musk may not have a traditional bunker in the ground, his SpaceX program is, in essence, the most ambitious doomsday survival project in history — just with a much higher price of admission.

Kim Kardashian, Tom Cruise, and the Celebrity Bunker Club

It’s not just tech billionaires. Kim Kardashian and her family explored bunker options — notably featured in an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians in which Kim and Khloé went bunker shopping with Texas-based builder Ron Hubbard. Tom Cruise and Shaquille O’Neal are also among the celebrities alleged to have built secure shelters or reinforced safe rooms within their properties. In Los Angeles, according to Bill Rigdon of Panic Room Builders, the presence of a panic room or bunker has become an actual selling point in the luxury real estate market.

Mukesh Ambani — Fortified High-Rise in Mumbai

Indian billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s 27-floor private residence “Antilia” in Mumbai — valued at approximately $4.8 billion — was secured with the help of Al Corbi, the founder of Virginia-based firm SAFE (Strategically Armored & Fortified Environments). The building is widely considered to be one of the most secure private residences on earth.

The Hawaii Land Rush

Zuckerberg is not the only billionaire who has been buying up Hawaii. Oprah Winfrey purchased a 163-acre estate in Maui in 2002 and has steadily acquired additional land since, amassing over 650,000 square meters. Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, purchased nearly the entire Hawaiian island of Lanai back in 2012. Billionaire Frank VanderSloot purchased a 2,000-acre ranch just south of Zuckerberg’s compound two years ago. And Elon Musk, Britney Spears, Larry Page, and others also own significant Hawaiian properties.

What These Bunkers Actually Look Like: From Basic to Bonkers

Gone are the days when a survival bunker meant canned food and a cot in a concrete box. Today’s billionaire bunkers are engineered to maintain an entirely normal — in some cases, opulent — existence underground, potentially for years at a time. The features being requested and installed range from the impressive to the genuinely insane.

Standard High-End Features

Even “entry level” luxury bunkers — those in the $200,000 to $500,000 range — typically include:

- Blast-proof steel doors rated to withstand significant overpressure - NBCET protection (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical, Electromagnetic, Technological) - Independent air filtration systems with HEPA and NBC filters - Water storage, purification, and in some cases desalination - Food stores for 1–5 years - Diesel or solar power generation with battery backup - Communications systems independent of external infrastructure - Medical facilities ranging from first aid stations to full surgical theaters Mid-Range Luxury ($1 million–$10 million)

At the mid-range, bunkers begin to resemble high-end apartments or vacation homes:

- Full kitchen with professional appliances - Multiple bedrooms and bathrooms with high-end finishes - Home theater systems - Gym and exercise facilities - Hydroponic gardens for food production - Shooting ranges - Climate-controlled wine cellars - Guest quarters and staff rooms - Panic rooms within the bunker (yes, a panic room inside a bunker) Ultra-Luxury Billionaire Level ($10 million–$100 million+)

At the very top of the market, the line between “doomsday shelter” and “underground palace” disappears entirely. These mega-bunkers have been reported to include:

- Indoor swimming pools with artificial lighting systems - Full golf simulators replicating the world’s top 50 courses (as reported by Robb Report) - Climate-controlled art galleries built to the same anti-intrusion standards as commercial bank vaults - Fiery perimeter moats and water cannon defensive systems - 20+ vehicle underground garages with museum-grade security - Bowling alleys and arcades - Crematoriums for long-term self-sufficiency - Fabrication workshops for on-site manufacturing - Biometric multi-factor access control using facial, iris, and palm recognition - Decontamination airlocks at all entry points - Helipad access with underground vehicle ramps - Medical facilities including dental surgery - EMP-hardened electronics and Faraday cage protection

Al Corbi of SAFE describes his most spectacular in-progress project as an “island fortress” on a 200-acre property in the United States, featuring cutting-edge tactical systems that he cannot yet describe publicly. “The scale and complexity of these environments have expanded dramatically,” Corbi says, “evolving far beyond survivalist shelters into fully integrated, high-comfort retreats.”

The Companies Cashing In: The Bunker Industry Breakdown

A booming billionaire fear has spawned a booming industry. Here’s a look at the key players building and selling survival infrastructure to the world’s wealthiest.

SAFE (Strategically Armored & Fortified Environments) — Virginia, USA

Founded by Al Corbi over 50 years ago, SAFE is one of the oldest and most prestigious names in ultra-high-security design for private clients. The firm has worked on some of the world’s most iconic fortified residences, including Mukesh Ambani’s Antilia. Corbi’s clientele includes billionaires, royalty, and major corporations, and his projects routinely run into the hundreds of millions.

Panic Room Builders — USA

Founded by Bill Rigdon, Panic Room Builders began with faith-based shelter construction for Mormon communities and has evolved into a full-service underground compound firm. The company is currently developing a survival facility beneath a Beverly Hills hotel that will, from the air, look like an ordinary alfalfa field. Rooms will be individually priced at over $1 million each, and residents will be able to “try before they buy” through overnight stays in the facility.

Vivos — Del Mar, California

Robert Vicino’s Vivos is one of the most prolific and visible bunker companies in the world. The firm operates multiple properties globally:

- Vivos xPoint in South Dakota — a former U.S. Army munitions depot near the Black Hills consisting of 575 hardened concrete bunkers spread across a property roughly three-quarters the size of Manhattan. The complex can accommodate over 5,000 people. Individual bunkers are priced at $25,000 to $200,000 to outfit, with the raw shell available at lower cost. - Vivos Europa One in Rothenstein, Germany — converted from a massive Cold War Soviet-era munitions storage facility built beneath a 400-foot mountain. The facility offers over 227,000 square feet of living space, with 34 customizable apartment suites starting at 2,500 square feet. Private residences start at $2.2 million and can include private pools, theaters, and gyms. The facility can withstand a nuclear blast, direct aircraft crash, or biological attack. - Vivos Indiana — accommodates up to 80 people for approximately one year, with communal dining areas, gardens, and four-star amenities.

Vicino is characteristically blunt about what he’s selling: “The pandemic was a huge driver of interest in sales; then all the global concerns and issues at home are another boost. We’re here to provide peace-of-mind solutions.”

Survival Condo — Kansas, USA

Developer Larry Hall transformed an abandoned Atlas missile silo in Kansas into a luxury underground condominium complex. The bolt-shaped structure descends 15 floors and is protected by nine-foot-thick walls and a 161-foot protective dome. Units are equipped with stainless steel appliances, LED lighting, home automation, washers and dryers, and a five-year food supply per resident. Shared amenities include a pool, rock climbing wall, movie theater, dog park, and arcade. Penthouse units — approximately 3,600 square feet across two levels — start at $4.5 million.

Oppidum — Switzerland / Czech Republic

Oppidum is arguably the most glamorous name in the luxury bunker space. The company builds bespoke fortified underground residences for ultra-high-net-worth individuals, with prices starting at $10 million for the baseline model and reaching $100 million for their flagship L’Heritage line. L’Heritage bunkers descend 49 feet underground, cover 10,760 square feet, and are built to NATO-standard blast and ballistic protection levels using the same high-density concrete formulation used in nuclear power plants.

Access is via a hydraulically activated ramp concealed in the landscape — nearly invisible until opened. The ramp leads to a secure underground garage built to museum security standards, capable of housing an extensive car collection. Beyond the garage is a decontamination airlock with custom blast doors and multi-biometric access control. Interior amenities include underground gardens with simulated natural light, climate-controlled art galleries with opaque-to-transparent glass walls, private cinema, spa, wine vault, and a fully secured private meeting room for continuing business operations during any event.

The most affordable Oppidum model — a 290-square-meter two-bedroom, three-bath loft buried six feet underground — starts at €7.5 million. The company has reported a steady increase in inquiries, noting that clients are “inspired more by pop culture than politics.”

The Czech Republic’s Oppidum Compound

Separate from Oppidum Bunkers, a purpose-built facility simply called “The Oppidum” exists in the Czech Republic. Originally a joint Soviet-Czechoslovak military project built over 10 years beginning in 1984, the facility spans over 323,000 square feet and includes both above-ground estate features and a 77,000-square-foot underground component. It offers one 6,750-square-foot apartment and six 1,720-square-foot apartments, all underground. Amenities include a ground-level golf course, helipad, spa, swimming pool, underground garden with simulated natural light, cinema, library, billiards room, conference rooms, gym, wine cellar, and a hospital with dental surgery facilities. The facility is said to be capable of sustaining its residents independently for ten years and protecting against nuclear attack.

Why Now? The Threat Drivers Behind the Bunker Boom

The question everyone asks is: what are these people afraid of? And the real answer is: a lot of things, all at once. Here’s the breakdown of what’s driving demand.

1. Climate Change and Environmental Collapse

Climate scientists increasingly describe a convergence of system failures — rising sea levels, increasing wildfire frequency, extreme weather events, and ecosystem disruption. Author Douglas Rushkoff, who has spent significant time consulting for Silicon Valley billionaires planning for collapse scenarios, puts it starkly: “The data on the ground is indicating catastrophic failure of the systems that sustain life on the planet: ocean salinity, plankton, atmospheric oxygen, aerosols — and that’s just climate change.”

For billionaires, the calculus is straightforward: they can see the data, they can model the trajectories, and they have enough money to actually do something about it.

2. Nuclear Threat and Great Power Conflict

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 shattered the post-Cold War assumption of relative nuclear stability. For the first time in decades, governments across Europe began openly discussing civil defense preparations, and the “nuclear threat level” in public consciousness climbed to heights not seen since the 1980s. According to a 2024 YouGov poll, men and older Americans are increasingly likely to have thought about a nuclear war contingency plan.

Al Corbi of SAFE notes a particular shift in focus: “The newness is it’s shifting from the idea of nuclear ka-boom to protection against local threats. The real threat is the power grid.” Many of his clients are buying older aircraft — King Airs and pre-1986 vehicles — specifically because their older electronics would continue functioning after an electromagnetic pulse attack (EMP) that would knock out modern computer-dependent systems.

3. EMP and Cyber Attacks on Critical Infrastructure

The scenario of a coordinated electromagnetic pulse attack or a large-scale cyberattack on power grid infrastructure has moved from science fiction to classified threat briefings. The idea was popularized by the Netflix film Leave the World Behind, which Corbi specifically cites as reflecting real concerns among his billionaire clientele. A grid-down scenario — lasting weeks, months, or longer — represents a threat that no amount of personal wealth can negotiate with.

4. Pandemic Preparedness

COVID-19 was a transformative event for the bunker industry. Demand for air filtration systems, sealed environments, and self-sufficient food production spiked dramatically in 2020–2021. Ron Hubbard, one of the industry’s most prominent builders, reported buying 711 air filtration systems — more than he had purchased in the previous 13 years combined — in a single December to keep up with post-pandemic demand.

5. Social Unrest and the Fear of “The Unruly Masses”

Perhaps the most uncomfortable driver of bunker demand is simpler and more primal: the ultra-rich are afraid of regular people. Rushkoff describes this explicitly, noting that the Silicon Valley executives he met with were specifically concerned about protecting themselves from “the unruly masses.” Their most pressing question — asked more than any other — was: “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the event?”

In other words, if money loses its value and society collapses, how do you keep hired guards loyal? This is the question that reveals the real anxiety: not just physical survival, but the preservation of power and social hierarchy in a world where both might be meaningless.