Larry Ellison. Photo / Oracle
All the talk in New Zealand is of the "ninjas" who flag-bombed Larry Ellison's house in San Francisco - but there is a great deal of curiosity in San Francisco as to what is happening at Mark Zuckerberg's place.
The Facebook tycoon bought a 510sq m Dolores Heights house in
San Francisco for US$10 million ($12 million) a few months ago. Since then, some nosy journalists have discovered that "Zuck" appears to have paid US$10 million for a do-up.
City records which showed that the Facebook founder, who is worth about US$19 billion (in the top 20 of America's richest people, but a long way from Ellison's US$41 billion) has taken out five construction permits. One was for a US$720,000 first floor office, a media room, a half-bathroom (we'd say a toilet), and mud room (where you shed your muddy shoes or wet raincoats).
That US$720,000 also covers a laundry room, a wine cellar (only it's not a cellar; more of a wine room) and a wet bar (a bar with a sink in it), a new second floor half-bathroom and a remodelling of the second, third and fourth floors.
He is spending a further US$750,000 in additions to the lower floors as well as a new roof, windows and landscaping. He's added a US$60,000 greenhouse - those are some expensive tomatoes - and US$30,000 to replace a wall, stairwell and make "seismic upgrades".
