A perfect pandemic retreat: Bill and Melinda Gates snap up $43million San Diego beachside house

Billionaire philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates have snapped up an oceanfront home in San Diego County, California, for a record making $43 million.

The six-bed Del Mar home, which boasts a ten-person jacuzzi and swimming pool overlooking the ocean, was bought by the couple in late March as the international coronavirus pandemic began to take hold.

Purchased from Madeleine Pickens, the former wife of Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens, the property deal is one of the largest ever recorded in the area, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The six-bed Del Mar, San Diego County, California, home, which boasts a ten-person jacuzzi and swimming pool overlooking the ocean, was bought by the Gates’ in late March

With a spacious 5,800 square feet and scenic views the property could make the perfect isolation hideout, however it is thought Mr Gates, one of the richest people in the world, is most likely to be isolating at his $123 million Medina, Washington, estate. 

The couple are believed to personally own around six properties – with their private investment firm Cascade dealing in many more.

In 2015 the tech billionaire spent $18m buying the 228-acre Rancho Paseana in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from weight-loss guru Jenny Craig. 

The Microsoft co-founder Mr Gates, 64, and wife former Microsoft general manager Mrs Gates, 55, have not held back from assisting the global search for a vaccine. 

Purchased from Madeleine Pickens, the former wife of Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens, the San Diego property deal (pictured) is one of the largest ever recorded in the area

The Microsoft co-founder Mr Gates, 64, and wife former Microsoft general manager Mrs Gates, 55, have not held back from assisting the global search for a vaccine

Mr Gates warned that it could take longer than 18 months to secure a vaccine but vowed that money would be no obstacle and revealed he was happy to keep on donating, saying ‘we’ll write checks faster than governments can.’ 

The couple’s foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has committed $250 million so far in the fight against coronavirus.

With Mr Gates in talks with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National institutes of Health (NIH) about how to ‘accelerate’ the critical research. 

The foundation has already put funding behind seven vaccine makers to allow them to build factories, but has called on countries to do more – they have also made $20million available to three initiatives in the US and UK aiming to study the effectiveness of known drugs in treating coronavirus infections.

With a spacious 5,800 square feet and scenic views the property could make the perfect isolation hideout

He told BBC Breakfast last week: ‘People like myself are saying 18 months [for a vaccine]. If everything went perfectly we could do slightly better than that.

‘But there will be a trade-off. We’ll have less safety testing than we typically would have. Governments will have to decide.’

He added: ‘We’re doing everything we can. We’ll write checks faster than governments can. It definitely shouldn’t be money limited. It should be all the best constructs full speed ahead.’

In the last 24 hours, deaths have risen by 2,229 in the US – a small decrease on yesterday’s near-record total of 2,400 – bringing the number of Americans killed by coronavirus up to 48,035

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 also surged Wednesday, with 29,304 new cases, taking the total to 856,584 

Asked how a global vaccine might be found, he said: ‘Research will need to fund the ten most promising constructs. Because we won’t know in advance which one will prove to be safe and effective.

‘It has to be effective for older people whose immune system is weak is a huge challenge. If you really amp up the vaccine to do that then you can run in to safety issues.

‘So we’re going to have to take something that usually takes five or six years and get it done in 18 months.’      

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk