Billionaire Bill Gates Reveals Why He Will Never ‘Downsize’ His ‘Gigantic’ $130 Million Xanadu 2.0 Mansion—as He Discusses Life After Divorce

Billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates has admitted that he has no plans to move out of his “gigantic” $130 million custom-built Seattle megamansion after his divorce from wife Melinda—insisting he “can’t” imagine himself living anywhere else, particularly anywhere smaller.

The 69-year-old, who currently has a net worth of $166 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is certainly no stranger to luxury, having once held the title of richest man in the world.

But while his wealth has since been eclipsed by the fortunes of other tech moguls like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, Gates has confessed that he has no plans to cut back on the luxuries that he has become accustomed to over the years—even after his former spouse moved out of their longtime marital home.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Times, Gates candidly spoke out about his May 2021 split from Melinda, to whom he had been married for 27 years, describing the divorce as the “mistake I most regret.”

For much of their marriage, the former couple lived inside Gates’ 66,000-square-foot compound in Medina, WA, which is referred to as “Xanadu 2.0” in a reference to a fictional estate that features in the movie “Citizen Kane.”

It was here that the duo raised their three children, Phoebe, 22, Rory, 25, and Jennifer, 28, all of whom have since spread their wings and moved into their own homes.

But though the home that once served as a base for his family is no longer occupied by his children or his former wife, Gates told the outlet that he cannot ever see himself moving to a smaller property, particularly given that his three kids still enjoy visiting their childhood home whenever possible.

Furthermore, the tech billionaire says he’s grown accustomed to his new life inside the walls of the property, enjoying the small freedoms that come from living alone.

“My house in Seattle, I admit, is gigantic,” he said. “My sisters have downsized. I can’t. I like the houses I have. My kids like to come back—that is a luxury. I don’t cook, I don’t make my own bed, but I don’t mind if no one has made it—I wouldn’t notice.”

The Microsoft founder purchased the expansive property in 1988 for just $2 million and then poured an estimated $63 million into renovating it, turning the home into an ultramodern oasis fit for a tech titan.

The home is now believed to be worth an eye-watering $130 million, according to Fortune.

The property features seven bedrooms, six kitchens, 24 bathrooms, and six fireplaces. It also boasts a private library and a 17-by-60-foot swimming pool that has its own underwater music system.

The 69-year-old’s opulent abode also comes complete with a theater room, sauna, party space, steam room, separate men’s and women’s lockers, a trampoline room with a 20-foot ceiling, offices, and outdoor sports courts.

The reception hall is partially below ground and can seat 150 people for an elegant dinner or hold 200 people for a cocktail party.

And in true tech founder fashion, the property has its very own advanced security system that can detect who is in the residence by the weight of their footsteps thanks to the pressure-sensitive floors.

It is a far cry from the humble middle-class family that Gates was brought up in—and he admits that there was a time when even he could not have foreseen the lavish lifestyle that now seems so normal to him.

“I have three houses. I used to fly coach and make people share hotel rooms and think having a private plane was a waste,” he said.

But while he has grown accustomed to his lifestyle, he conceded that he still thinks about what his mother would think of him enjoying such privilege.

“That is interesting,” he said when asked whether his mother “would be looking down favorably” on his lifestyle.

“Would she think I was being profligate or showing off? Should I try to do my foundation work without a private jet? That would be inefficient. I may sound arrogant, but it wouldn’t be practical. I spend $9 million a year on CO₂ offsets,” he told the outlet.

Though his money enables him to carry out a wealth of charitable endeavors through his foundation—which he started with and once ran alongside Melinda—Gates insists that he wasn’t raised to prize money above all else.

“Money wasn’t [my mother’s] greatest interest,” he revealed. “There was one time my father, who was getting Alzheimer’s, said, ‘Son, I heard you’re the richest person in the world. Is that true?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, that’s true,’ and he said, ‘That’s incredible.’

“Because he grew up in the Depression, his behavior about money was anxious. But otherwise, no one mentioned mine.”

Although Gates noted in the interview that he has “three houses,” he has never revealed which homes he took ownership of in his divorce settlement, other than Xanadu 2.0.

At the time of their split, the former couple owned multiple properties, including a beach house in Del Mar, CA, which they purchased for $43 million in 2020; an equestrian ranch in Rancho Santa Fe, CA, which they bought in 2014, paying $18 million; two horse farms—one in Wellington, FL, and one in upstate New York; and a $12.5 million property in Indian Wells, CA.

Gates’ daughter, Jennifer, a talented equestrian was gifted the horse farm in New York, and it’s thought that she is also running the property in Wellington and the ranch in California as part of her Evergates Stables business.

However, the current ownership of the other homes within the Gates’ real estate portfolio has not been revealed.

Following the divorce, it was claimed that Melinda had walked away with “at least” $12.5 billion, in addition to other assets like stocks and properties.

Speaking about the divorce in his interview with The Times, Gates confessed that the experience was “miserable” for both him and his ex-wife.

Although he revealed that he is now feeling “cheerful,” Gates noted that he struggled to grapple with the loss of the relationship and still regrets it to this day.

“The divorce thing was miserable for me and Melinda for at least two years,” he said, adding that he would put a public separation at the “top of his list” of his failures throughout life.

“That was the mistake I most regret,” he added.

He explained that he had hoped to have a marriage similar to his parents, Bill Sr. and Mary, who were together for 45 years.

Gates and Melinda met in 1987 during a Microsoft sales meeting when Melinda was a product manager and he was CEO.

The pair then tied the knot on New Year’s Day in 1994 and went on to welcome their three children.

“When Melinda and I met, I was fairly successful but not ridiculously successful—that came during the time that we were together. So, she saw me through a lot,” he said.

“When we got divorced it was tough and then she made the decision to leave the foundation—I was disappointed that she took the option to go off,” he added referring to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation they founded in 2000 to fight poverty.

After their separation, the tech expert renamed the program to the Gates Foundation.

When they announced their divorce, the pair revealed that they could no longer “grow together as a couple in this next phase of life.”

Although the couple did not have a prenup, they did have a detailed  “separation agreement”  that laid out the details of their split.

In 2023, Gates began dating Paula Hurd, the widow of Oracle CEO Mark Hurd. A year later, Melinda went public with her boyfriend, Philip Vaughn.

At the end of the interview, Gates noted that he and Melinda still see each other. He said: “Melinda and I still see each other—we have three kids and two grandchildren so there are family events. The kids are doing well. They have good values.”