Bill Gates's $600,000-a-Month Rental Will Keep His Daughter Near Ponies
Bill Gates is reportedly renting an eight-bedroom South Florida mansion for half a year at $600,000 per month. Yes, the Microsoft co-founder has at least two other homes, but neither of them will put his 15-year-old daughter Jennifer—or her ponies—within striking distance of the Winter Equestrian Festival.
Jennifer is "on the junior circuit and owns several prize ponies," former Miami Herald columnist Jose Lambiet wrote on GossipExtra. And with the world's "largest and longest running equestrian competition" taking place January through April in Palm Beach, Gates needed to find her a crash pad. The 7,300-square-foot estate in Wellington will probably do; it has a barn, horse training area and a guarded access road. Plus, unlike Gates' Lake Washington home near Seattle or his ranch in Wyoming, it's trotting distance to the big competition.
Gates is also said to have an option to buy the place, recently listed at $13 million. But he should probably let that call slide, assuming Gates wants to secure his position as the world's leading renouncer of inherited wealth. Dropping eight figures on a pony mansion might lend the impression his children are spoiled.
