Palmer Luckey ended 2025 with a pair of recognitions: one local and the other with international implications.
The Anduril Industries founder was one of 10 executives who, along with 20 companies, were sanctioned by the Chinese government on Dec. 26, after the U.S. announced a $10 billion arms sale to Taiwan.
Under the sanctions announced by Beijing, Luckey, whose Costa Mesa company provides defense products to Taiwan, can no longer do business in China and is barred from entering the country.
His assets in China are also frozen, he noted in a string of sarcastic social media posts noting the sanctions, comparing the edict to an Academy Award.
“Anduril has been sanctioned for a while now, as have many of my peers, but it means so much to have my non-existent Chinese assets seized,” he said.
“First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they sanction you. Then you win.”
On the local front, Lido Isle resident Palmer Luckey earned the “Best Powerboat Award” for the 117th edition of the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade, which ran Dec. 17 to 21.
His purple- and gold-lit boat featured a Santa Claus and reindeer atop the vessel. Perhaps next year Luckey will deck out his submarine for the parade?
Other Anduril Industries execs, including CEO Brian Schimpf, spent time during the boat parade on the yacht owned by CT Realty Managing Partner James “Watty” Watson, whose real estate firm is overseeing the development of Anduril’s massive new plant in Ohio.
For more on Newport Beach-based CT Realty’s active 2025, see next week’s print edition.
Newport Beach business execs also made their mark on land over the holidays, with the 2025 Ring of Lights competition, which recognizes the best holiday decorations in the city.
City Ventures chairman Craig Atkins won the “Best on Lido” award, while neighbor Bob Olson of R.D. Olson Development won the “Mayor’s Award” for the decorations made to his recently built home, which hosted both a Christmas-themed party and a Hanukkah soiree over the holidays.
Business Journal Publisher Richard Reisman was among the few to attend both Olson events and a holiday party hosted by Atkins.
Sports investor Jeff Moorad, who bought Olson’s prior home on Balboa Island, earned the “Commodore Award” for the Ring of Lights, while nonprofit leader Shirley Pepys, founder of the Balboa Island Museum, earned the “Chairman’s Choice” Award.
Anduril Industries, founded in 2017, ended 2025 with a valuation topping $30 billion, and Palmer Luckey’s new banking venture, Erebor Bank, is showing a similar growth plan.
Erebor, created last year to finance cryptocurrency, defense and technology companies, “has quietly raised $350 million at a $4.35 billion post-money valuation,” according to a Dec. 22 Axios report, published a couple days after the FDIC conditionally approved its application.
