Report: Bill and Melinda Gates buy a $43-million Del Mar home

Bill and Melinda Gates have purchased a home in Del Mar for $43 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The sale of the massive beachfront property marks the second-priciest home sale in San Diego County history. Ironically, the biggest was for the same house for $48.2 million in 2007.

Real estate agents involved in the sale, as well as representatives of the famous pair, did not respond to requests for comment or declined to name the buyers. However, property records show the sale was made to a limited liability company based in the Gates’ hometown of Seattle and they have a history of purchasing property in the area.

In 2014, the couple purchased weight-loss icon Jenny Craig’s 299-acre horse farm in Rancho Santa Fe for $18 million.

The Del Mar property has 120 feet of ocean frontage and was built by architect and designer Ken Ronchetti in 1999.

It had previously been owned by Madeleine Pickens, the ex-wife of Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens. Her purchase of the property is a bit complicated. She bought it for $35 million but the total grew to $48.2 million when three adjacent parcels were added to the deal.

Bill and Melinda Gates at a news conference at the 2010 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

(Associated Press)

The home has 5,800 square feet, six bedrooms, a glass tile pool, imported limestone flooring and a 10-person hot tub overlooking a fire pit. It also comes with a two-bedroom guest house.

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, is the world’s second-richest person with a net worth of $103.4 billion, said Forbes. He is now most visible with his charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The organization has worked to eradicate Ebola and focused on other causes in the developing world. Recently, the foundation has committed more than $250 million to fight COVID-19.