In 2013, the year before Forbes crowned her the world’s so-called “youngest self-made female billionaire,” Elizabeth Holmes and her then-boyfriend Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani celebrated Theranos’ early fundraising success with the purchase of a lavish estate in Atherton, a small Silicon Valley city known for being home to many of California’s wealthiest tech moguls.
Of course, the notion of Holmes as self-made was somewhat controversial from the start, given that the Stanford dropout was born to well-to-do and very well-connected parents. But by 2016, that point was moot because Holmes was no longer a billionaire; the former media darling and her Palo Alto-based company were staring down a slew of federal investigations and lawsuits. Today, things are perhaps even bleaker for Holmes — the 38-year-old is facing up to 20 years in prison and millions in fines, convicted of criminally defrauding investors.
The tawdry tale of Theranos has become part of pop culture lore, with the ill-fated blood-testing startup’s story immortalized in Hulu miniseries “The Dropout,” starring Amanda Seyfried. A particularly bulbous Holmby Hills mansion was used to portray Holmes’ Bay Area residence, and Naveen Andrews portrays ex-Theranos president and COO Balwani, a former Microsoft employee who made his first fortune during the Y2K dot-com bubble. Outside the office, Balwani was also involved in a longterm and clandestine romance with Holmes, though their relationship was not disclosed to investors.
That paranoid sort of secrecy also extended to real estate. Holmes and Balwani used a mysteriously-named shell company to pay exactly $9 million for that Atherton mansion, carefully obscuring their ownership of the property from prying eyes. While the couple’s relationship disintegrated in 2016, the pair continued to jointly own the estate until March 2018, when records show Balwani paid Holmes $7.9 million to buy out Holmes’ 50% stake in the house. (Yes, the property apparently nearly doubled in value over five years.)
Last November, Balwani put the mansion up for grabs with a $16.5 million ask; it sold in January for just over $15.8 million to software engineer Hansong Zhang, a former Roblox executive, and his wife Sally Shi, a managing director at investment bank Oppenheimer Holdings. That’s good news for Balwani, who probably needs the capital — he’s currently embroiled in expensive and ongoing litigation, charged by the SEC with securities fraud.
But the Atherton estate itself feels a world away from all that ugliness. Situated in the same leafy town that’s also home to Steph Curry, Google cofounder Sergey Brin, Marc Andreessen, WhatsApp’s Jan Koum and Charles Schwab, the one-acre property lies on one of the neighborhood’s poshest streets.
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Image Credit: via Zillow Set behind gates and mature hedges, the house is described in the listing as a “classic example of French provincial architecture.” There are five bedrooms, five full bathrooms and two powder rooms in the nearly 9,000-square-foot structure, plus a one-bedroom detached guesthouse nestled into the backyard.
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Image Credit: via Zillow Inside, obviously staged interiors include a formal living room with a fireplace and varnished parquet hardwood floors throughout.
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Image Credit: via Zillow A similarly opulent formal dining room has a flashy crystal chandelier and elaborate wainscoting.
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Image Credit: via Zillow There’s also ample room for wine storage and a wet bar somewhere on the premises.
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Image Credit: via Zillow Outfitted with two islands and top-of-the-line stainless appliances, the kitchen is suitable for catering large events and galas.
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Image Credit: via Zillow An adjoining family room offers another fireplace and direct access to the backyard gardens.
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Image Credit: via Zillow Upstairs are four ensuite bedrooms, including the lavish primary suite. Back on the main level is a fifth suite that could be “staff quarters or an ideal office,” per the listing.
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Image Credit: via Zillow With sunny backyard views and a built-in soaking tub, the master bath could easily cheer up a prison-bound former tech exec.
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Image Credit: via Zillow Out back, an air-conditioned and heated covered loggia is additionally warmed by a mammoth fireplace.
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Image Credit: via Zillow The impeccably manicured gardens are undeniably beautiful, with clipped hedges, large fountains, Italian cypresses and specimen trees.
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Image Credit: via Zillow Also on the premises is a pool surrounded by a patio ideal for sunbathing.
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Image Credit: via Zillow Just beyond the pool is the guesthouse, which features a living room and kitchen of its own.
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Image Credit: via Zillow -
Image Credit: via Zillow