News and views off the beaten track.

How tech billionaires live

December 8, 2005 6:41 PM PST

Ever wanted to be a fly on the uber-mansion walls of Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs or Michael Dell?

Forbes.com has published a little article (plus a slide show and video) on the very big homes of America's billionaires. You can't see inside the digs, but you do get a look at the sprawling exteriors, as well as some details on the way-above-average domestic accoutrements.

Coming in at No. 1 with a net worth of $46.6 billion is Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, whose 66,000-square-foot compound is built into a hillside on the edge of Lake Washington outside Seattle. The home has a 60-foot-long swimming pool with an underwater music system. There's a domed library with two "secret" bookcase doors and a 1,000-square-foot dining room, according to Forbes.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison shows up at No. 9 with a net worth of $18.4 billion. He lives about 30 miles south of San Francisco in an estate styled after an imperial Japanese palace. Then there's Michael Dell at No. 9. He lives in a 33,000-square-foot hilltop Austin mansion. Jobs, ranked 194 with a net worth of $3 billion, kicks back in a 17,000-square-foot mansion in Woodside, Calif.

Not too shabby--and not too surprising given that Forbes' list of the richest Americans continues to be quite hospitable to the biggest names in tech.

Posted by Leslie Katz

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