Not all billionaires buy yachts: Here’s how Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is using his wealth to save the planet

We’ve all heard stories about how some of the world’s richest people spend, and often waste, their fortunes on luxuries the rest of us can only dream of. But Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, the North Carolina-based video game and software developer behind Fortnite, isn’t one of them.

A billionaire with a different kind of empire

Sweeney’s estimated net worth of $5.7 billion makes him North Carolina’s second-wealthiest person. For nearly two decades, he’s been quietly buying up large swaths of land with high conservation value across the state to make sure developers can’t ruin it.

So far, he owns around 54,000 acres in 15 counties, including 16,000 acres in Chatham County alone.

Tim Sweeney: Buying land to keep it wild

Sweeney has made most of his purchases through 130 of Chatham, an LLC he owns that was created solely to acquire land for conservation in North Carolina.

He hasn’t just been buying, though - he’s also been giving. In 2016, Sweeney donated 7,000 acres to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Five years later, he gifted slightly more to the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. And in August this year, he agreed to a $3.59 million deal to hand over 238 acres of high-elevation spruce-fir forest to the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation, which used it to expand Mount Mitchell State Park.

A strategy shift as land prices rise

In 2021, Sweeney revealed that he had changed his approach after noticing a sharp rise in land prices.

“Since 2021, the economy has been stronger, land has become more expensive, and my focus has moved to getting large blocks of contiguous conservation lands I’ve acquired since 2009 into permanent conservation,” he said.

Sweeney playing the long game for conservation

Even as prices have climbed, Sweeney is still able to move fast when valuable land becomes available. He now holds on to these properties until the state or conservation groups are ready to take them over.

The 54-year-old has explained that he sells land to such organizations at a discount, using the proceeds to fund future conservation efforts.

Private buyers, such as local families looking to expand their property, have occasionally managed to buy land from Sweeney, but only after assuring him that critical natural habitats would be preserved.

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