5 Tech Legends Everyone Should Recognize
The tech sector has created an enormous amount of wealth, and while it hasn't created that many jobs, it has made some people extraordinarily wealthy. Business Insider put together a list of the world's 10 richest tech billionaires, and we decided to focus on the top five. You've likely heard of these guys, but you might not know the source of their wealth, and less likely still, what real estate they hold. Read on to find out.
Age: 61
Net Worth: $83.6B
Interesting Fact: His kids will only inherit $10M each.
Bill Gates is the richest person on earth. His wealth largely comes from Microsoft, the company he co-founded and ran for years, and today he focuses on the philanthropic work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Over the years, the billionaire hasn't ignored real estate: He owns a 228-acre horse farm in California; it's speculated he shelled out $25M for Grand Bogue Caye, an island off the coast of Belize; and his high-tech home is worth about $150M.
Age: 52
Net Worth: $65.5B
Interesting Fact: He originally wanted to call Amazon "Cadabra."
As if being the CEO and founder of Amazon.com, the world's largest online retailer, wasn't enough, Jeff Bezos has scooped up enough real estate to earn the No. 26 spot on The Land Report's list of America's largest landowners. Chief among those is the 165,000-acre Corn Ranch, the base of Bezos' aerospace company, Blue Origin. On top of that, Bezos owns homes in NYC and Beverly Hills and a Lake Washington home neighboring Bill Gates.
Age: 32
Net Worth: $50.3B
Interesting Fact: He started programming at age 12.
Mark Zuckerberg made his billions from Facebook, and it didn't take him long to put his cash to work. The social media king has invested in a series of multimillion-dollar properties over the years, including a 750-acre oceanfront property on the North Shore of Hawaii's Kauai. He's also the owner of a three-story NYC townhouse, picking it up for $22.3M, and a number of California homes.
Age: 72
Net Worth: $48.4B
Interesting Fact: He dropped out of two different universities.
Well-known as the co-founder and former CEO of Oracle, Larry Ellison should be equally well-known for his incredible real estate portfolio. Dubbed the "nation's most avid trophy-home buyer," Ellison owns everything from a Japanese historic garden villa to Hawaii's 89,600-acre Lanai Island, which he threw down $500M for in 2012. He also owns at least two dozen properties in Malibu, CA, and spent nine years and somewhere between $70M and $110M modeling his home after a 16th-century Japanese emperor's palace.
Age: 43
Net Worth: $39.2B
Interesting Fact: He made an inkjet printer out of Legos in college.
Larry Page co-founded Google and is Alphabet's current CEO, so it's no wonder he's on this list. His real estate holdings are relatively modest (for a multibillionaire at least) and consist mainly of his Palo Alto home and surrounding neighborhood. Page began buying up properties around his house in 2009, only to tear them down and replace them with a green palace. That eco-house, not to be confused with his neighboring home, measures in at 6k SF and is equipped with all available green technologies. Page also owns the $45M mega-yacht Senses.
