Wouldn’t we all? If only we had stock options from Microsoft. Or Netscape, Oracle, Yahoo! and a hundred other lesser-known companies that have struck the mother lode of American commerce. High tech has outposts everywhere, but its booming capitals are Silicon Valley and Seattle. The techno-barons have more money than they can possibly spend in a lifetime, but they’re trying anyway. If you can’t take it with you, you might as well spend it on $14-a-pound ostrich salami. Motorcars and motorcycles, planes and yachts - these are some of the ways the siliconillionaires keep score. Paul Allen, cofounder of Microsoft, even bought himself an island north of Seattle (ousting a beloved children’s camp in the process). There’s nothing like a megalo-mansion to make the other gearheads green with envy - until, of course, they build one bigger than yours. Conspicuous construction is the coin of the digital realm.
In the residential heart of Silicon Valley, 40 miles south of San Francisco, lies Woodside 94062 (pop. 5,250). It’s sedate, it’s rural and, according to the horse census, it has more ponies than people; that’s not manure you’re smelling, Smitty, it’s haute ecole. More than any other affluent community around the Valley, Woodside says, ““I’m loaded, but I’m not telling.’’ Until the cyberrichies showed up. Now Larry Ellison of Oracle is building a $40 million retreat that the gods of Kyoto would die for. It won’t be ready until the millennium arrives, but already he’s got competition. A mile away, Mike Markkula, a cofounder of Apple, is putting up a chateau that’s 7,840 square feet. Problem for Markkula is that he initially wanted twice that space. Woodside said no way. Markkula argued he was entitled to a variance since, after all, he was providing a ““substantial public benefit.’’ How so? The caretaker’s quarters should be considered ““affordable housing.’’ Woodside said no way. At least somebody has a sense of humor: WILL CONSULT FOR FOOD, reads a placard in front of the construction site. Down the hill, the talk of Atherton is Carol Bartz, CEO of Autodesk and the Valley’s grande dame. She just moved into her dream estate at 82 Isabella, near the Menlo Circus Club and around the corner from Joe Montana.
Jim Clark, cofounder of Netscape, is also in the neighborhood, yet his multimillion-dollar place barely rates. (““Doesn’t even have a fine wine cellar,’’ Clark admits.) Instead, his souvenir of success is a stunt plane - a German Extra 300L, Chiquita yellow with red-and-white trim. Estimated cost: a mere $300,000. ““Once you feel comfortable in your plane,’’ says Clark, ““you can do virtually anything.’’ Like driving his white Mercedes S600 right onto the tarmac of the San Jose Jet Center. Standing beside his plane, his blue eyes beaming, Clark speaks of ““tail slides and humpty dumps and hammerhead rolls.’’ We have no idea what he’s talking about, but whatever makes him happy. Clark is famous for his tastes and makes no apologies. ““I grew up in Texas, the prototypical poor boy,’’ he says. ““When you make it, you start to think there isn’t anything you want that you can’t buy.''
That thinking could lead to that dreaded Silicon Valley affliction, ““plane envy.’’ Take a look around the rest of the airport. The clunker props of the ’80s have been replaced by sleek machines that fly faster than a 747. An on-site caterer, Jora Babayan, will prepare Peking duck for in-flight service. Or, as one executive requested to celebrate a $20 million deal, a Wendy’s double cheese. Ellison awaits delivery of his Gulfstream 5, the Rolls-Royce of flight. A G-5 costs $37 million, has a 100-foot wingspan and about a dozen seats and can fly New York to Tokyo on a single fill-up. The exteriors of the G-5s are bland - for security reasons, the techno-riche want anonymity in the unfriendly skies. But once inside, nobody will confuse them with Aeroflot. At costs of up to $10 million, the interiors include everything from ivory inlays to satellite-communications hookups. The prize for best plane goes to Ellison, if he ever gets his MiG-29. Unfortunately, he wants the $20 million Russian war bird with all the trimmings, and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms wants it defanged first. Rumor has it Ellison wants to buzz Gates’s house at supersonic speed, blasting out all the new windows.
Among the cyberrich, there’s just one Gates. But the undercrust - you and me, if only … - includes thousands of everyday folk. Depending on today’s Nasdaq close, Microsoft alone has more than 3,000 millionaires, give or take an ostrich salami. At Netscape, 33-year-old Marc Coelho takes care of all the buildings. But as a very early employee, his timing was perfect. He now has several million in paper profits, along with a ‘56 DeSoto, a Range Rover and six motorcycles, including the classic Ducati 955SP. His basic transportation: a $65,000 black Dodge Viper RT/10 two-seat roadster. It’s basically a 600-horsepower engine with wheels. ““I like to go fast,’’ Coelho says. On Highway 101 that runs through the Valley, we went from 0 to 120 in seven face-peeling seconds. Even the rabble gets some trickle-down. A guy named Randy Vance shows up in the parking lot to do car washes. Cost: $150.
Too bad Vance doesn’t do windows. At Charles Simonyi’s amazing house along Seattle’s Gold Coast, he’d make a fortune. In addition to all its other toys, Simonyi’s techno-temple has virtually all glass facing the lake. From the fourth-floor bedroom, which juts out on a cantilever from the rest of the house, Simonyi can see the city beyond, his art gallery below, and the 12-by-12-foot Fahri sculpture on the lawn. It’s a glorious 200-degree view that he can enjoy right from his bed, which rotates based on time of day and has software of its own. In the morn, as the blinds open automatically, the bed turns to the distant sky. At night, as Bartok or the Kinks begin to play, the bed swivels toward the fireplace, which automatically ignites. ““My house is a work of art,’’ Simonyi says, ““an expression of myself.’’ Sure is. At the end of the day, though, he admits it would be sweeter still to have someone to share it all with.
