Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has splashed out $US30 million ($A31.82 million) dollars to buy four houses adjacent to his own five-bedroom home.
The San Jose Mercury News reported on Friday that the 29-year-old multibillionaire 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 newly acquired properties, and had in fact leased them back to their original owners.
Zuckerberg, whose fortunes is estimated at $US19 billion, reportedly paid $US14.9 million for one of the homes, which was "absurdly high," according to a real estate agent quoted by the article.
However, the price is less surprising "if somebody wants to buy a property and the sellers don't want to sell," agent James Yang said.
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Palo Alto is one of the most expensive cities in the United States, and boasts numerous tech moguls among its residents, including Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, and the home of late Apple founder Steve Jobs.
