Controversial tycoon Vijay Mallya has enjoyed all the trappings extreme wealth has to offer, including a superyacht, a private jet, a customised Boeing 727, his own Formula 1 team and an array of incredible homes around the world – including one of the most extraordinary homes we've ever seen. However, it's unclear if the mogul will be able to enjoy the spoils of his riches. Once known as the "Branson of Bangalore" and one of India's richest billionaires, he's had something of a fall from grace and has since found himself an alleged fugitive from the law. Click or scroll on to find out more...

Indian business baron Vijay Mallya made his fortune through liquor companies including United Spirits and UB Spirits, before branching out into Formula 1 in 2008, when he launched the Force India team. It's unclear how much Mallya is worth these days, though estimates of his fortune vary from $750 million (£605m) to $1.2 billion (£968m). However, there was a time when he was worth much more. During the height of his wealth, Mallya was known as the 'King of Good Times', because of his reportedly lavish lifestyle. But his empire started to unravel when one of his companies collapsed, leading to a string of accusations from officials in India. 

In 2012, Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines went bust. According to Forbes, the company owed Indian banks over $1 billion (£780m). Mallya moved to the UK in 2016 amid mounting pressure from lenders and, in 2018, lost his F1 racing team when it was put into administration. It's thought that he's currently living in London, where he's fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering, which he denies. In 2019 he was declared a fugitive economic offender by Indian authorities. According to the BBC, Mallya was found guilty of contempt in July 2022, accused of failing to disclose his assets. India's top court has sentenced him to four months in jail, yet the mogul still remains in the UK. Let's take a look at the beleaguered businessman's incredible – and in some cases truly astonishing – homes around the world...

In 1994, Mallya spent $1.2 million (£967k) on a vast shell of a house in Sausalito, an upmarket oceanfront community just north of San Francisco. He is said to have sunk "many times" the purchase amount into its renovation – and it shows. With seven bedrooms and 12 bathrooms, the luxurious Mediterranean-style home is the height of opulence and offers everything a billionaire might need. As well as a sparkling swimming pool, spa and sauna, the home has a temperature-controlled 2,000-bottle wine cellar and a library with its very own wet bar. Mallya reportedly hung paintings by Picasso, Chagall and Renoir on the walls and stuffed the rooms full of antiques, including a gold 1872 Steinway piano.

Unfortunately for Mallya, he defaulted on the mansion, which is the largest single-family home in Sausalito. As a result, it's currently for sale, for a whopping $16.8 million (£13.6m). Described as an "elegant European palace" in the listing, the almost 11,000-square-foot home was originally placed on the market back in 2021 for $22.5 million (£18.1m) and has taken several cuts since then, in a bid to tempt apparently reticent buyers. Inside, some of the extraordinary features include Italian marble floors, ornate wood and gilded columns, carved white marble window arches and hand-painted ceilings.

Despite the extravagant interior, it's the incredible views of San Francisco, the Bay Bridge and surrounding islands that make us want to move in tomorrow. Mallya certainly designed the four-storey home to make the most of the vista, with numerous large windows and a balcony in almost every oceanfront room. While private and tucked away behind a gated entry, the home is close to Sausalito yacht club, where Mallya no doubt moored his superyacht from time to time.

In 2007, long before Mallya's permanent move to the UK, he picked up a home in Cornwall Terrace, one of London's smartest addresses. Overlooking Regent's Park, it was completed in 1823 and is now said to be the home of Mallya's son and elderly mother. However, as with much of his property, this Grade I-listed gem hasn't been without its problems. In 2012, the beleaguered former billionaire used the home as collateral against a $25 million (£20.4m) loan from UBS, which he then defaulted on. In 2021, UBS took Mallya to court to win possession of the home and the following year won their case to evict Mallya, according to The Times of India. However, although the businessman's assets are frozen, his mother and children were granted access to trust funds established in their name in the Bahamas, which enabled them to repay the loan. So Mallya's London home is safe... for now.

While it's unclear if the home is a townhouse or an apartment, it's said to be worth many millions and was designed by Decimus Burton, under the supervision of John Nash, one of England's most celebrated architects of the Georgian and Regency periods. This six-bedroom, seven-bathroom home elsewhere on Cornwall Terrace is currently on the market for £25 million ($31m) and may give us an idea of what Mallya's house looks like inside – perhaps minus the distinctive decorative touches.

Meanwhile, Mallya's spending didn't stop there. In 2006, he splashed out on this majestic superyacht, which is estimated to be worth $100 million (£80.7m), according to Superyacht Fan. Initially named Al Mirqab, after the Prime Minister of Qatar, Mallya renamed it Indian Empress. Seen here moored in the Grand Harbour in Valletta, Malta, the 311-foot vessel can accommodate 32 guests and a crew of 42, so every whim can be catered for. The master suite takes up an entire deck and the yacht also holds a gym, sauna and steam room. At this point in our tour of Mallya's property, it won't surprise you to learn that the beautiful boat was sold at a 2018 auction ordered by a Maltese Court due to the businessman's unpaid debts. In addition to this beauty, Mallya once owned the yacht Kalizma, which was bought in the 1960s by Richard Burton for his wife, Elizabeth Taylor. 

Two years after acquiring his yacht, Mallya presumably needed somewhere to take it, and in 2008 he bought Le Grand Jardin, a 13th-century estate on a UNESCO-protected island on the French Riviera. Once occupied by King Louis XIV of France and the 15th-century Dukes of Guise, it's said the 'Man in the Iron Mask', a famous prisoner during the rule of Louis XIV, was held in the island's fortress and that Napoleon grazed his horses in the garden. Mallya bought the fabled property for €27 million ($28.8m/£23.2m) with the help of a loan. With 17 bedrooms, a cinema, a private helipad and even a nightclub, the home was certainly fit for royalty.

However, once again Mallya defaulted on the loan and, in 2020, Qatar National Bank took him to the high court in London to force him to sell assets in order to repay the debt. During the trial, the lending bank alleged that the property had "fallen into disrepair" and that "unsuitable" designers and builders had been hired to carry out repairs, which had left it in an even worse state, according to the Hindustan Times. A Knight Frank inspection of the property found its value had fallen by €10 million ($10.7m / £8.6m). 

Later in 2020, Mallya sold Le Grand Jardin and subsequently applied to the UK High Court to access some of the proceeds to pay his ever-mounting legal fees. It is now "under the guardianship" of Swiss real estate company, Ultima Captial, according to Forbes. The property has been restored based on original foundations and drawings and is now available for holiday rentals. Don't reach for your credit card just yet though – one week in July will set you back a staggering $303,000 (£245k)! The estate, which is the only private property on the island, has been given a new lease of life, with twelve newly remodelled bedrooms spanning six separate buildings, a private pool, wine cellar and bold sculptures filling the botanical gardens.

Interestingly, Vijay Mallya also bought property connected with another of the world's most famous billionaires – Donald Trump. In March 2010, the liquor tycoon bought an apartment in Trump Plaza, New York, in the name of his daughter Tanya for $950,000 (£765k). Just two months later he followed it up with another purchase in the 36-storey co-op, this time snapping up the penthouse, which has a wood-burning fireplace and a wraparound terrace, for $1.2 million (£966k). And in September 2010, he bought yet another chunk of the building, this time a four-bedroom penthouse duplex. Unfortunately, Mallya found himself in hot water after he failed to declare ownership of the properties while serving as a Member of Parliament in India.

When the ritzy high rise was opened in 1984, Donald Trump owned 90 percent of the building, although by the late 1990s, this had fallen to just a few apartments as well as some retail space and the parking garage. In 2014, the building's board agreed to pay $185 million (£149m) for the land the building stands on. However, this led some residents unable to pay their share of the lot, including – you guessed it – Vijay Mallya and his daughter Tanya, according to The Real Deal. Unable to pay the $10.1 million (£8.1m) they owed, Tanya was presented with a forbearance agreement by the Plaza co-op board in 2015, which is a formal contract to delay a foreclosure when a borrower can't pay. However, by 2016 it appears any issues were resolved and the co-op president declared they "don't have an issue with Mr. Mallya.” It's unclear if Mallya and his daughter still own the properties.

In 2015, as the then-owner of Formula 1 team Force India, Mallya dropped £11.5 million ($14.3m) on the former home of Anthony Hamilton, father of record-breaking racing driver Sir Lewis Hamilton. Ladywalk, near the sleepy village of Tewin, Hertfordshire, is tightly guarded, "bristling" with CCTV cameras and protected by security guards, according to a Guardian journalist who visited the home in 2017. It is thought Mallya remains at the estate, the gates to which are flanked by black posts embossed in gold with his initials. As impressive as the mansion is, it's nothing compared to Mallya's latest home, which might just be one of the most extraordinary properties we've ever seen...

It's a surreal sight – in the city of Bangalore, a majestic columned mansion, complete with manicured grounds, sits at the top of a 400-foot skyscraper. Floating above the hubbub of the city, Kingfisher Towers is currently nearing completion and lies in the UB City business district of Bangalore, India. It was built on the former site of Mallya’s ancestral home and he jointly owns it, alongside the company behind the build itself, Prestige Groups. The 34-storey structure sits on 4.5 acres of land and has 81 units across three blocks. But, of course, Mallya saved the best residence for himself. If you look closely, you might just be able to spot it...

That's right, Mallya built himself a luxury penthouse on the roof of the building – well, it's more like a mega-mansion, actually. Sitting almost 400 feet above ground, the 40,000-square-foot property almost looks like an optical illusion. The two-level home boasts a helipad, numerous exterior decks and even an infinity pool, all with 360-degree city views. Thanks to travel filmmaker Srihari Karanth, we can enjoy some seriously incredible drone shots of the astonishing building. 

Sadly, we can't step inside the mansion, but this real estate image of another property inside the tower gives us a good idea of how it might look. According to PropTiger, the apartments are being constructed from the highest quality materials and every resident will have access to a communal gym, pool and clubhouse. Decked out with glossy floors, recessed lighting and high-end furnishings, the complex screams luxury. In fact, Srihari Karanth reports that Rana George, the son of Indian politician KJ George, bought one of the apartments for 352 million rupees, which equates to $4.3 million (£3.3m).

Allegedly modelled after the White House in Washington, DC, the mansion has two elevators that provide private access. In fact, according to Coldwell Banker, the penthouse is entirely separate from the other units in the tower, so Mallya can come and go undetected. The realtors also suggest that the property set the businessman back a cool $20 million (£15.6m) – a fact that has proved extremely controversial, considering Mallya's companies are said to be in serious amounts of debt. As we know, Mallya is thought to be hiding out in the UK while he faces jail time in India, so whether the magnate will ever be able to enjoy his newly built home remains to be seen...

Read on to take a look at how the world's billionaires really live

With money no object, the mega-wealthy can splash out on just about any property that takes their fancy, be it a palatial mansion or even an entire tropical island. Yet some actually have very humble tastes indeed. Ranging from the magnificent to the surprisingly modest, click or scroll through and let's take a sneaky peak around the homes of the most loaded people on the planet, from Rihanna and Elon Musk to Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.

Meet Carlos Slim, Mexico’s wealthiest man and formerly the richest man in the world. With a reported net worth of just under $94 billion (£76bn), Slim and his family own América Móvil, Latin America's biggest mobile telecom firm. Over the course of a near six-decade career, Slim has developed a reputation as a business magnate, investor and philanthropist, and has amassed an impressive property portfolio to boot. 

One of Slim’s most impressive homes is this stately Manhattan townhouse, which he listed for sale in early 2023 for $80 million (£62m). Slim had previously listed the building for the same price back in 2015, a record-breaking asking price for the city at the time, the New York Post reported, but no buyer emerged. In May 2023, the property listing was once again removed from the market with no explanation. However, if it ever manages to secure a buyer for its previous asking price, it would break the record for the most expensive townhouse ever sold in the Big Apple.

Slim purchased the townhouse from the late Russian oil titan Tamir Sapir in 2010, paying a cool $44 million (£34m). However, with its location on Fifth Avenue in the luxurious Upper East Side and its Gilded Age glamour, the home’s eight-figure asking price is not hard to understand. Built between 1899 and 1901, the red-brick and limestone townhouse boasts 20,000 square feet across five storeys, with spectacular views of Central Park on one side and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, located directly across the street, on the other.

The home is full of spectacular original detailing, including marble fireplaces, parquet floors, ornate plaster-moulded ceilings and an impressive grand staircase, which climbs up all five storeys. The home offers eight bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, with 25 rooms in total. The palatially proportioned entertaining rooms on the first and second floors just cry out to host large events and are highly reminiscent of the days of balls and banquets for which they were originally built.

Known as the Benjamin N. Duke House, the home was designed by the firm of Welch, Smith & Provot in the Italian Renaissance Palazzo style and is one of the last of the luxurious mansions that line Fifth Avenue to remain privately owned, the listing notes. Indeed, the listing goes on to suggest that while the house is suitable for private ownership, it is also ideally suited to be turned into a gallery, store, museum or foundation given its enormous size and prime location.

Very few singers can call themselves billionaires – but Rihanna certainly can. The star is now a fully-fledged business mogul, thanks to her hugely successful beauty brand, Fenty. In August 2021, Forbes declared Barbados-born Rihanna America's youngest self-made female billionaire and her estimated fortune today is thought to be in the region of $1.4 billion (£1.1bn). Fans of the singer will already know that she has an amazing property portfolio, but let's take a look at one of her latest purchases...

In early 2021 – not long after things got serious with rapper A$AP Rocky, with whom she now shares two sons – Rihanna snapped up this sprawling five-bedroom, seven-bathroom mansion in the exclusive 90210 zip code of Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. The Umbrella singer put down $13.8 million (£10.8m) for the spread and we can totally understand why...

The 5,900-square-foot residence is surrounded by other celebrity homes and was built in 1938. Formerly owned by Mary Sheldon, daughter of legendary novelist and screenwriter Sidney Sheldon, the pad was later bought by tech entrepreneur Daniel Starr, who demolished the home and built the real estate gem we see today in its place. The ultra-contemporary farmhouse blends modern and traditional design elements to dazzling effect.

Throughout the home, you'll find plenty of open-plan spaces for socialising, including an intimate lounge area, a luxurious wet bar and a designer kitchen. The master bedroom comes complete with huge walk-in closets and a stunning ensuite bathroom with a garden-view bathtub and an enviable walk-in shower. The room leads out to a sun-trap terrace – the perfect spot for stargazing.

Many of the interior spaces flow out to the garden, where an alfresco courtyard, a four-car garage, a firepit, swimming pool and spa amenities can be found. In the summer of 2021, the star put the property up for rent, asking a cool $80,000 (£62k) a month, but the opportunity was short-lived. In April 2023, Rihanna bought a luxurious LA penthouse for $21 million (£16.4m) and is thought to be residing there full-time.

The son of a grocer, Ron Burkle started working at the age of 13, showing incredible entrepreneurial drive while still in his early teens. In 1986, he founded The Yucaipa Companies, a private equity and venture capital firm, accruing his fortune buying and selling supermarket chains across America. Today, he's thought to be worth $3.1 billion (£2.4bn) and has snapped up an impressive array of celebrity-worthy homes.

In 2016, Burkle bought Bob Hope’s iconic spaceship house in Palm Springs for $13 million (£10.1m). The futuristic home was designed by architect John Lautner and is considered one of the coolest homes in the USA. A huge fan of Bob Hope, Burkle later snapped up another of the late comedian's properties in 2018, this lavish Toluca Lake estate. This time, Burkle paid $15 million (£11.7m), which is a bit of a bargain considering the place was originally listed for $27.5 million (£21.5m).

The stunning spread, which was completed in 1939, is nestled on more than five acres of land and offers a sprawling interior overflowing with unique architectural details. There are 10 bedrooms, 12 white Carrera marble bathrooms, an oak library, an open-plan living room, a banquet-worthy dining room and a high-end kitchen, not to mention a saltwater pool, a one-hole golf course designed by Hope himself, a home theatre, gym and infrared sauna. However, Burkle parted ways with the magnificent estate in March 2023, selling it on at a staggering profit for $26 million (£20.3m). Yet this isn't the only incredible home that Burkle has bought over the years...

Burkle was lucky enough to buy one of the most celebrated pieces of architecture in America, the Ennis House. The pad was made famous by its starring role in the iconic movie Blade Runner, but was also used as the set of Meereen Palace in the hit TV series Game of Thrones. Designed by celebrated architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the Ennis House was completed in 1924 and was inspired by the Mayan temples of Mexico and Central America. Burkle bought the place in 2011, for $4.5 million (£3.5m).

The home is formed from 27,000 interlocking concrete blocks, which can be seen both inside and out, while free-flowing rooms and 27 intricate leaded windows allow for unobstructed skyline views. Inside, the 10,000-square-foot home has three bedrooms, four bathrooms, a formal dining room, a living room and a kitchen. Following an earthquake, Burkle is said to have spent nearly $17 million (£13.3m) restoring the residence, before off-loading it in 2019 for $18 million (£14m).

Jeff Bezos has a slew of extravagant properties at his disposal. The Amazon founder and recent space tourist, who is now worth in excess of $167 billion (£135bn), has been busily buying up lavish properties following his 2019 divorce, expanding a real estate folio which already includes a sprawling compound in Medina, Washington, and an imposing mansion in America's capital, Washington, DC.

Not long after his divorce from MacKenzie Scott was finalised, the centibillionaire dropped around $80 million (£62.4m) on an incredible triplex penthouse, as well as the two apartments below it, in Manhattan's 212 Fifth Avenue. The elegant 24-storey neo-Gothic skyscraper was built in 1912 and overlooks Madison Square Park.

The handiwork of top interior design studio Pembrooke & Ives, the sensational five-bedroom, five-bathroom penthouse spans 10,000 square feet and offers 5,000 square feet of outside space. Finished to the highest spec imaginable, the triplex wows with everything from state-of-the-art smart home tech to copious Carrera marble and a chef's kitchen packed with Gaggenau appliances.

The multilevel rooftop terraces and garden area really are something else, with a pool, an observatory and lush landscaping. Bezos followed up his big purchase by snapping up an additional unit in 2020 for $16 million (£12.5m), no doubt with plans to create one almighty combined unit that'll be the envy of The Big Apple.

Earlier in 2020, the businessman parted with a record $165 million (£129m) to acquire the fabled Warner Estate in Beverly Hills. Formerly owned by billionaire music industry mogul David Geffen, the majestic compound boasts an eight-bedroom Georgian-style manse and two guesthouses. Several months later, Bezos reportedly bought an adjacent property for $10 million (£7.8m).  Most recently in August 2023, Bezos splurged $68 million (£55m) for a mansion on Indian Creek, which is known as Florida's 'Billionaire Bunker' island. Clearly one enviable home just isn't enough!

Like Jeff Bezos, controversial businessman Elon Musk is a major space enthusiast – in 2020, the Tesla and Twitter tycoon, who has since rebranded the social platform as X, revealed plans to offload all of his homes, together with most of his worldly possessions to help fund a colony on Mars. True to his word, the eccentric billionaire has more or less completed his epic downsizing mission, adding to his bumper net worth of almost $271 billion (£218bn). So, where did he live and where does he live now?

After selling a luxe 16,000-square-foot mansion in Bel Air for $29 million (£22.6m), a characterful five-bedroom residence once owned by actor Gene Wilder for $9.5 million (£7.4m) and a four-home package deal for $62.5 million (£48.8m), it was time for Musk to rid himself of the last of his seven homes – this historic estate in the affluent San Francisco Bay Area community of Hillsborough.

Put on the market for a whopping $30 million (£23m), the stately home dates back to the early 20th century and has seven bedrooms and nine-and-a-half bathrooms. It sprawls 16,000 square feet and impresses with exquisite interiors, including a grand ballroom and banquet dining room. It's also surrounded by 47 acres of land, which come complete with a pool, formal gardens, private hiking trails, canyons and even a reservoir. In December 2021, the plush mansion sold for the asking price. So, where did Musk move to?

Well, after shedding his property empire, Musk announced on Twitter that he had moved into a tiny home that cost just $50,000 (£39k) – which he rents from his company SpaceX. The modest property is located at Musk's Starbase launch site in the southern Texan town of Boca Chica. When he made the announcement, speculation was rife that Musk's home was designed by construction technology company Boxabl. However, Musk later set the record straight in July 2022 and revealed that while he owns a Boxabl unit, he does not use it as his main residence. 

Rather, Musk says that he uses the company's 375-square-foot Casita model, pictured, as a guest house, and even hosted a birthday party at the pocket-sized property in 2021. But Musk's claims of embracing tiny living have been thrown into question. In July 2023, The Wall Street Journal alleged that the billionaire may be building himself an elaborate glass house near Austin. Their report cites construction plans for a new development called Project 42, which were first drawn up in 2022. One rendering shows a structure shaped like a twisted hexagon, while another appears to show a residential area with bedrooms, bathrooms and a kitchen. 

In sharp contrast to his fellow centibillionaires, investing guru Warren Buffett is renowned for his frugal ways. Despite amassing a fortune of more than $123 billion (£99bn), the Berkshire Hathaway head honcho has simple tastes, which extend to his choice of home. In fact, Buffett is said to live in the same relatively modest house he bought back in 1958 for only $31,500 (£24.6k).

Situated in a nice but pretty ordinary middle-class neighbourhood in Omaha, Nebraska, the five-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom residence totals just 6,570 square feet. Buffett has described the grey stucco property, now said to be worth a million dollars, as the third-best investment he ever made, after his two wedding rings.

While the so-called Oracle of Omaha currently owns just the one home, he was formerly in possession of a prime oceanfront home in the gated community of Emerald Bay in Laguna Beach, California. Another bargain real estate purchase, Buffett bagged the property back in 1972 for just $150,000 (£117k).

Together with his family, the unassuming billionaire spent many happy summer vacations in the six-bedroom, seven-bathroom Art Deco retreat. In keeping with his modest tastes, the house was very simply decorated, with none of the bling and other extravagances you might expect to encounter in a billionaire's pad.

The property sold in October 2018 for $7.5 million (£5.8m), a good $3.5 million (£2.7m) below the initial asking price of $11 million (£8.6m). That said, the super-shrewd investor still managed to get an excellent return on his investment, since he bought the Pacific-facing home for the equivalent of $975,000 (£760k) in today's money.

Although Donald Trump owns a ridiculously opulent penthouse in his eponymous Manhattan tower, the real estate mogul and four-time indicted former American president made Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach his primary residence in September 2019. Bar the summer, which he spends at his property in Bedminster, New Jersey, the controversial businessman, who's worth $2.5 billion (£1.9bn), calls the sensational estate his home for most of the year. In fact, the estate has become the de facto campaign HQ for his 2024 bid for the Republican presidential nomination. 

Donald Trump acquired the landmark Spanish-Moorish-style beach palace in 1985 for the knockdown price of $8 million (£6.2m), a fraction of its value today. He carried out an acclaimed renovation, adding a 20,000-square-foot Louis XIV-style ballroom and increasing the estate's room count from 118 to 126.

The ballroom is said to have been decorated with a staggering $7 million (£5.5m) worth of gold leaf, echoing the sumptuous living room, which features a ceiling based on the glorious 'Thousand Wing Ceiling' in Venice's Accademia. Rumour has it America's entire supplies of gold leaf were exhausted gilding the remarkable space back in the early 1920s.

As much of the estate functions as an ultra-exclusive member's club, the ex-president, his wife Melania and their son Barron relocated to the lavishly appointed owner's suite after they left the White House at the start of 2021. It comprises the so-called Versailles master bedroom, an additional bedroom, the Pine Hall and the Louis XV hall, living rooms, bathrooms and offices.

Melania reportedly oversaw a revamp of the suite in readiness for the family's move there and though zero images of the redecorated property have been released, this photo from the early 1990s of the Versailles master bedroom is very much in keeping with the signature Trump aesthetic, which is anything but modest and understated. Yet since the 45th president left office, the estate has been plagued by legal woes over sensitive government documents that were moved to Mar-a-Lago from the White House. Trump has since been indicted on a litany of felony charges relating to the alleged mishandling of classified files, with new charges brought as recently as July 2023. A trial date has been set for 20 May 2024.

British entrepreneur and philanthropist, John Caudwell, joined the billionaire's club in 2006 after selling his Caudwell Group for almost $1.8 billion (£1.4bn). In 2012, he purchased two of London's finest properties, Ancaster House and the adjacent 8 Chesterfield Gardens. Both located in upmarket Mayfair, the billionaire paid the princely sum of $104 million (£81m) for the residences.

The deep-pocketed tycoon then sunk a hefty $77 million (£60m) into a mega-deluxe refurb, combining the two properties to create Mayfair House, the UK's most valuable private residence. An army of around 300 worked on the expensive home renovation, which saw 78 miles of cables and 650 electrical sockets installed, while 20,000 sheets of gold leaf were used to decorate the interior.

Superlatives abound in the astonishingly luxurious giga-mansion. Spanning 43,000 feet, the eight-storey, 15-bedroom home is more than twice the size of the Royal Albert Hall. The ballroom, which exudes regal grandeur, is the largest privately-owned space of its kind in London and can comfortably fit 120 people.

The Thai-themed dining room is one of many highlights. A breathtaking space, it features a meandering river filled with tropical fish and a delightful faux cherry tree. There's also a gym, spa, home cinema, library and an Art Deco-inspired lift in the unparalleled property. And the jaw-dropping features don't stop there.

The subterranean swimming pool, for instance, features a "volcano" wall and ceiling, complete with a realistic lava effect. Caudwell, who has vowed to give away 70% of his fortune to good causes, doesn't actually live in the sprawling mansion, however. Mayfair House is instead used to hold events for his charity, Caudwell Children.

Tyler Perry certainly doesn't do things by halves when it comes to real estate. Worth a cool $1 billion (£779m), the actor, director, producer and screenwriter loaned a palatial property in Beverly Hills to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during the spring of 2020 and is currently building a humongous 35,000-square-foot mega-mansion near his movie studio compound, just outside Atlanta.

Before he embarked on the unparalleled new-build, the media mogul called this breathtaking Versailles-inspired estate in Atlanta's upscale Buckhead neighbourhood home. The man behind the Madea film franchise bought the property in 2007 for $9 million (£7m) and pumped millions of dollars into making it into a French Provincial-style pad.

Rocking all the trappings of the quintessential billionaire's home (and then some), the flashy seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom property sits on 17 acres of exquisitely landscaped grounds bordering the Chattahoochee River and wows from the get-go with its splendid entrance foyer complete with Corinthian columns, marble flooring and an elaborate double staircase.

The manse's many highlights include the high-ceilinged reception rooms and underground ballroom, a spa and fully equipped gym, home cinema and wine cellar, not to mention an incredible 70,000-gallon infinity pool with a bar, indoor resistance pool, illuminated tennis courts and a separate guesthouse to boot.

Perry sold the beguiling estate in 2016 to businessman and evangelist David Turner for $17.5 million (£13.6m), pocketing a substantial return on his investment, but the moneyed minister ended up offloading it at a loss: the mansion was acquired in 2020 by TV host, Steve Harvey, for a bargain $15 million (£11.7m).

Declared a bona fide billionaire by Forbes in spring 2021, Kim Kardashian is now worth a cool $1.7 billion (£1.3bn), thanks to her shapewear brand, Skims. After finalising her divorce from Kanye West, the socialite turned businesswoman has remained in the couple's former marital home in Hidden Hills. They bought the place together in 2014, spending $19.8 million (£15.4m), but according to Us Weekly, Kim is now officially the sole owner of the property, after paying Kanye $23 million (£17.9m) for his share.

While the 15,000-square-foot property looks like your typical cookie-cutter billionaire's manse from the outside, the interior is anything but. Before their split, the couple went all out revamping the property, ploughing $20 million (£15.6m) into a starkly minimalist makeover, which Kanye spearheaded. Of the money Kim paid Kayne for the place, $3 million (£2.3m) is said to have bought her the contents of the home, including the furniture and artwork. 

Kanye called on revered interior designer Axel Vervoordt to overhaul the property, opting for an austere, all-white aesthetic based on Japanese wabi-sabi philosophy, which focuses on "wisdom in natural simplicity", though the rapper has described it as a "futuristic Belgian monastery". The pristine, pared-down vibe extends throughout the entire house, bar the children's bedrooms and playroom.

More artistic statement than mere interior design, the living spaces are dramatic and sparsely decorated. There's no denying the overall effect of all that flawless white is super-impressive and a refreshing, calming contrast to the OTT bling favoured by billionaires like Donald Trump.

Standout features of the property include its cavernous hallways, living rooms with marshmallow-like sofas, the master bathroom and its $30,000 (£23k) basinless sink, two fabulous pools and a vineyard. But Kim is still diversifying her property portfolio. In September 2022, news broke that the businesswoman had bought Cindy Crawford's former beachfront home in Malibu for some $70.4 million (£54.8m), while Kim is also said to be in the midst of building her own home in Palm Springs, designed by renowned architect Tadao Ando. Watch this space!

The ultimate piece of real estate for the billionaires of the world has got to be a private island hideaway and Richard Branson, who has a fortune of $2.9 billion (£2.3bn), owns not just one, but two of the most alluring. The Virgin boss, a recent space tourist like Jeff Bezos, bought his first, the blissful Necker in the British Virgin Islands, back in 1979 for a mere $180,000 (£140k), 97% under its original asking price.

As a condition of the sale, the business magnate pledged to construct a resort on the 74-acre island and got the ball rolling by building an 11-bedroom Balinese-style home perched on a hilltop, which he called the Great House. Over the years, the island has welcomed a plethora of VIPs, from Princess Diana and Prince Harry to Barack Obama, Kate Winslet and Kate Moss, who held her 40th birthday bash there.

Branson made a permanent move to the island in 2006, leading to accusations that he did so to dodge tax, though the billionaire Virgin founder denies this. His dream home may be a haven of tranquillity, but it nonetheless has seen its fair share of disasters. In August 2011, the property was gutted by a devastating fire, before being flattened by Hurricane Irma in September 2017. 

Following both disasters, the Great House was rebuilt at a significant cost and kitted out with luxurious Balinese-inspired furnishings. Shown here is the gorgeous indoor-outdoor entertainment room. The perfect place to kick back, it features comfy sofas, a snooker table, grand piano and more.

The bedrooms are equally ravishing. In addition to the Great House, the island features several Balinese-style cottages, numerous pools, hot tubs and tennis courts. Branson followed up his purchase of Necker by buying nearby Moskito Island in 2007 for just shy of $12 million (£9.3m) and has spent a fortune transforming the beautiful 125-acre Caribbean idyll into a swish eco-resort. 

In spite of his humongous net worth, which recently hit $110 billion (£85.6bn), Mark Zuckerberg isn't big on overly fancy real estate, a virtue he shares with fellow centibillionaire Warren Buffett. The Facebook founder's primary residence is fairly humble, though this isn't reflected in the price he paid for it.

The tech tycoon acquired the 5,617-square-foot five-bedroom, five-bathroom Palo Alto home in California in 2011 for $7 million (£5.4m). Property clearly doesn't come cheap in Silicon Valley. A comfortable family home rather than some elaborate McMansion, the property is sedate, but it does have some nice features, including a sizeable pool in the backyard.

As you can see from this photo of Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan in their kitchen, the décor is modest and homely. Though his social media company's record on protecting the privacy of its users has made headlines, Zuckerberg has gone all out protecting his, buying up four surrounding homes for $30 million (£23.4m). 

Ever keen on securing his precious privacy, the Facebook boss went on to surreptitiously snap up a compound facing California's Lake Tahoe, putting down $22 million (£17m) for a waterfront manse in December 2018 and $37 million (£29m) the following month for the even bigger property next door. Both transactions were executed via a secretive LLC.

The smaller of the properties, which is called the Carousel Estate, has eight bedrooms and nine-and-a-half bathrooms as well as 3.5 acres of grounds, while the larger Brushwood Estate sits on six acres and boasts six bedrooms and six bathrooms. On top of the compounds in Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe, Zuckerberg owns properties in Hawaii and San Francisco, which are collectively worth some $320 million (£249m).

Microsoft founder and mega-philanthropist Bill Gates, who has a net worth of more than $112 billion (£90bn), also has a substantial real estate portfolio, which he shared with his ex-wife, Melinda. Following the couple's shock divorce, the various homes were divvied up. 

Gates' principal property, the colossal waterfront Xanadu 2.0 estate in Medina, Washington, is staggeringly impressive. Yet the breathtaking beach house that he and Melinda acquired in 2021 tops it in beauty and fabulousness. The couple splurged $43 million (£33.5m) on the six-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom oceanfront property in Del Mar, a charming seaside town not far from San Diego in southern California. 

The pair purchased the incredible mega-mansion from businesswoman, animal welfare activist and philanthropist Madeleine Pickens, the ex-wife of the multimillionaire T. Boone Pickens, who sold it at a $5 million (£3.9m) loss. Constructed in 1999 by architect Ken Ronchetti, the contemporary beach mansion has got it going on.

Along with plenty of luxe living space, the dream home features a phenomenal glass-tiled pool, a 10-person hot tub, a tennis court and 120 feet of private beach, making it a wonderful place to relax and unwind. There are two guesthouses on the property, as well as a wellness spa and home cinema.

The whole shebang is finished to an exceptionally high standard with only the finest woods, limestone and other high-end materials used in its construction. Exactly who got to keep the property is anyone's guess and as part of the high-profile divorce battle, there were also numerous equestrian estates and expansive ranches up for grabs.

In May 2019, self-made billionaire Eric Wu told CNBC Make It that he bought his first home when he was just 19 years old. He spent his college scholarship money buying homes and by the time he graduated in 2005, he owned 25 properties. Later, Wu cofounded Opendoor, an online platform that buys and sells residential real estate. When the company went public on the stock exchange, he quickly became a billionaire. Now worth just over $1 billion (£778m), Wu has one seriously amazing home.

With so much experience buying and selling homes, it's no surprise that Wu's private estate is totally jaw-dropping. The billionaire businessman bought the Orum Residence in spring 2022, paying a staggering $32.3 million (£25m) for the privilege. Built in 2018, the all-glass house was designed by renowned Californian-based architect Zoltan Pali and exudes classic LA glamour.

Nestled high in the Bel Air hills, on 1.55 acres of private land, the property is thought to have been inspired by an airplane propeller, thanks to its three distinct wings that jut out from a single central point. Before Wu bought the place, it had languished on the market for over three years and had an initial price tag of $56 million (£43.6m), which means Wu bagged himself quite the bargain. For his money, he gained 18,850 square feet of inside space, including nine bedrooms and 15 bathrooms.

The pad reportedly took four years to complete, but it seems like the effort was well worth it. Every room is bursting with high-end fixtures and finishes, not to mention truly awe-inspiring views across the Los Angeles skyline. The home includes a floating zig-zag staircase, motorised sliding doors that can be controlled via touchpads and a breathtaking master suite, which comes complete with a luxurious bathroom.

Of course, the home's billionaire backyard is every bit as amazing as you'd expect. There's a large swimming pool lit by LEDs, an outdoor kitchen and dining space, numerous wraparound patios, two fire pits and a lawn for hosting VIP soirees. Other plus points include the home's cedar sauna, massage room, 1,000-bottle wine cellar and movie theatre with Dolby Sound. We can but dream...

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