Some tech billionaires are playing real-life SimCity

In 2017, reports emerged that a secretive group was buying up farmland in rural Solano County, California, 90 minutes northeast of San Francisco. And they purchased a lot of it – ~60,000 acres.

Many thought it was the Chinese government working to set up shop near Travis Air Force Base. But a NY Times investigation determined it was actually a company called California Forever, a collective of billionaires including Reid Hoffman, Laurene Powell Jobs, and Marc Andreessen, who had spent ~$900 million to acquire the land with the aim of creating a new city from scratch for as many as 400,000 residents.

Why? Jan Sramek, a 37-year-old former Goldman Sachs trader leading the project, told CBS News: "Instead of taking all of these well-paying jobs that are being created in Northern California and sending them to Texas or Florida, [our goal is to] create a place where we can send them to Solano County.” His vision is to build a walkable city in the mold of Savannah, Philadelphia, or New York City's West Village.

• Overall, California Forever aims to bring 15,000 local jobs paying $88,000+/year to the city over the next decade. The project has already received hiring commitments from a dozen companies in tech, manufacturing, and finance.

👀 Looking ahead… The new city's fate will ultimately be decided this November by Solano County voters, who have to decide whether or not to overturn a 30-year-old law restricting where new development can go.