Mark Zuckerberg has spent 14 years gobbling up his leafy Palo Alto neighborhood, according to a New York Times report detailing how the Meta CEO has purchased 11 properties for over $110 million to create his own personal fiefdom in Crescent Park.
The piecemeal compound features a main residence, guest homes, manicured gardens, and a pickleball court — even a pool with a movable hydrofloor that can turn the swimming area into a dance floor. The pièce de résistance: a seven-foot statue of wife Priscilla Chan draped in flowing silver robes.
Beneath his suburban stronghold lies 7,000 square feet of subterranean space that neighbors have dubbed “the billionaire bat cave.” A private school for 14 children also operates in one of the homes — a violation of city zoning codes that doesn’t seem to bother city officials, report the Times.
The whole operation has taken a toll on some longtime residents, who cite years of construction noise, blocked driveways, and surveillance cameras peering every which way. Neighbor Michael Kieschnick tells the outlet, “No neighborhood wants to be occupied, but that’s exactly what they’ve done.”
At least Zuckerberg’s staff has periodically offered peace gestures, including wine, donuts, and, maybe most tellingly, noise-canceling headphones.