How Do Tech Billionaires Splash Their Cash?

After Steve Ballmer offered $2bn for the Los Angeles Clippers, Sky News looks at how other tech moguls spend their money.

Bill Gates, 58, said he was leaving his day-to-day Microsoft role in 2006

:: Bill Gates

The Microsoft founder and world's richest man, with a fortune estimated at $78bn (£47.6bn), is also the world's largest philanthropist.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with a $40bn (£23.9bn) endowment, aims to tackle disease and poverty in the developing world and improve education in the US.

In 1994, Mr Gates spent $30.8m (£18.4m) on Leonardo's Codex, or the Leicester Code, a notebook by the Renaissance genius on subjects ranging from anatomy to astronomy.

Larry Ellison, 69, is the world's fifth richest man, according to Forbes

:: Larry Ellison

The Oracle billionaire, worth $52bn (£31.1bn), bought 98% of Hawaii's Lanai island from David Murdock in June 2012 for an undisclosed price.

A tennis enthusiast, Mr Ellison previously invested $100m (£59.8m) in the professional game, including the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California.

Jeff Bezos, 50, founded Amazon as an online bookstore in 2005

:: Jeff Bezos

The Amazon mogul, whose fortune is put at $29bn (£17.3bn), has been spending his money on spaceships and an eternal clock that will keep time for the next 10,000 years. According to Business Insider, the clock is worth $42m (£25.1m).

He bought The Washington Post and other newspapers for $250m (£149.4m) but insisted he made the purchases as an individual and that Amazon was not involved.

Larry Page, 41, is one of the world's 20 richest billionaires

:: Larry Page

The Google co-creator is worth $31bn (£18.5bn) and his most extravagant purchase to date is reportedly a $45m (£26.9m) super yacht.

The 59-metre (193ft) helicopter-ready yacht is called Senses.

According to newspaper articles from 2011, when the purchase was reported, the interior was designed by French star Philippe Starck.

Mark Zuckerberg, 30, founded Facebook a decade ago

:: Mark Zuckerberg

The Facebook founder, worth $28bn (£16.7bn), has joined the Giving Pledge, a project launched by Mr Gates and Warren Buffett in 2010 to encourage US billionaires to give away at least half their wealth during their lifetime or after their death.

In 2013, Mr Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated 18 million shares of Facebook stock, valued at $990m (£591.7m), to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a charity that serves communities in two counties in central California. As part of that allocation, the couple are donating $120m to the San Francisco Bay Area's public school system.

Steve Jobs died in October 2011, aged 56

:: Steve Jobs

The late Apple co-founder had commissioned a €100m ($130m) yacht he was co-designing with Mr Starck.