Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has spent US$30 million ($36 million) to buy four houses next to his own five-bedroom home.
The San Jose Mercury News reported that the 29-year-old multi-billionaire decided to buy the homes in the ritzy neighbourhood of Palo Alto after discovering a developer planned to buy one of them to build a mansion.
The report said Zuckerberg had no plans to build a "Taj Mahal" on the properties, and had leased them back to their original owners.
Zuckerberg, whose fortunes is estimated at US$19 billion, reportedly paid US$14.9 million for one of the homes, which was "absurdly high", according to a real estate agent quoted by the article.
But the price was less surprising "if somebody wants to buy a property and the sellers don't want to sell", agent James Yang said.
