Jan Sramek

A group of Silicon Valley billionaires led by former Goldman Sachs Group trader Jan Sramek have quietly bought up over $800 million worth of Northern California farmland to create a new city from scratch. But their vision of a sustainable utopia is drawing persistent opposition from locals who are fighting to preserve a rural way of life. He’s led the acquisition of 53,000 acres used mostly for cattle grazing and farming. Backers include Silicon Valley luminaries such as former Sequoia Capital Chairman Mike Moritz, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. Sramek said he was a relative newcomer to the US, with only a decade in the country.