The incredible real-estate portfolio of Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen

• Madeline Stone
 
•  

• Jan. 9, 2016, 10:50 AM
• 187,988
 
• 2

Realtor.com, Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen lives a pretty fabulous life. With an estimated net worth of $18 billion, he's the 26th wealthiest man in the world, and he has the fancy yachts, planes, and lifestyle to prove it.

Allen also collects a ridiculous amount of properties across the globe. 

From a hilltop mansion on the French Riviera to an entire island off the coast of Washington, Allen has made his fair share of blockbuster purchases over the years.

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Allen's primary residence is a 10,000-square-foot waterfront home on Mercer Island, a ritzy enclave of Seattle. He owns a total of 11 mansions on the island, including one that's just for his mother and another that houses a full-size basketball court, swimming pool, and fitness center.

Bing Maps

Source: Curbed Seattle, Variety

Allen's most recent purchase on Mercer Island was a 3,000-square-foot bungalow that he reportedly paid $5.4 million for.

Bing Maps

Source: Realtor.com

He bought Allan Island, off the coast of Washington, in 1992. Though he initially had plans to build a dream home on the island, its secluded nature and lack of electricity made construction difficult. He sold the island in 2013 for a discounted $8 million.

Zillow

Source: Curbed Seattle

In 1993, Allen purchased a former sheep ranch in Tetonia, Idaho. For years, the property operated as the Teton Ridge Ranch, a five-suite luxury mountain lodge. It closed for business in 2009.

Bing Maps

Source: Variety

In 1997, Allen bought a 12,952-square-foot Mediterranean-style home in Beverly Hills. Among its ridiculous amenities is a funicular that shuttles guests from the pool deck to a tennis court located on a lower part of the property.

Google Maps

Source: Variety

Also in 1997, he paid $20 million for "The Enchanted Hill," a Beverly Hills estate that previously belonged to Hollywood legends Frances Marion and Fred Thomson. Allen angered many in the community when he demolished the historic property in 2000. He hasn't built anything on the land since then, though he did terrace the hillside.

Google Maps

Source: The Real Estalker

Allen bought this glassy contemporary home in Malibu's Carbon Beach for $25 million in 2010. In 2014, he sold it to CBS President Les Moonves for $28 million, reportedly because he "hated the sound of the ocean."

Curbed

Source: Page Six

Allen owns properties in Northern California as well. In November 2013, he paid $27 million for this 22,000-square-foot home in Atherton, one of Silicon Valley's wealthiest neighborhoods and the most expensive zip code in the US.

Realtor.com, Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Source: Realtor.com

He dropped a reported $7.5 million for the historic 10-acre property known as the "Thurston Estate" in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. In addition to a 12,000-square-foot main house, there's an employee residence, beach house, boat shed, and a private harbor.

Bing Maps

Source: Variety

In 2011, Allen paid $25 million for the penthouse in an apartment building on Manhattan's Upper East Side. He had purchased an apartment on the 11th floor of the same building in 1996, at a reported price of $13.5 million.

CityRealty

Source: New York Observer

His international real-estate holdings include the Villa Maryland, a hilltop mansion in the Côte d'Azur town of St. Jean Cap-Ferrat. He employs a staff of 12 and counts Bono and Andrew Lloyd Webber among his neighbors.

Eric Gaillard/REUTERS

Source: Curbed

He also has a house in London's Holland Park neighborhood, on the same cobblestone street where Richard Branson owns a home.

zoonabar, Flickr

Source: The Herald

When he heard his favorite Seattle movie theater was going to be demolished, he decided to buy it. His development company, Vulcan, refurbished the Cinerama with state-of-the-art Dolby sound and projection systems, including the world's first Christie 6P laser projector. It reopened in the fall of 2014.

Facebook.com/SeattleCinerama

Source: Curbed Seattle

But no discussion of Paul Allen is complete without mention of his yachts. There's the 303-foot Tatoosh, which has a cinema, swimming pool, and accommodations for 20 guests.

Seastar357, Wikimedia Commons

And the 414-foot Octopus, where Allen hosts his famous celebrity-packed parties during the Cannes Film Festival.

Oli Scarff/Getty Images

SEE ALSO: Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen reportedly just bought another home for $5.4 million

More: Paul Allen Microsoft Billionaires Features 

13 bad habits you should break in 2016 to be more productive

• Rachel Gillett
 

• Dec. 26, 2015, 10:00 AM
• 2,839,281
 
• 4

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Omar Havana/Getty

Being more productive is about working smarter, not harder, and making the most of each day. While this is no easy feat, getting more done in less time is a much more attainable goal if you're not sabotaging yourself with bad habits.

Following are 13 things you should stop doing right now to become more productive.

Aaron Taube contributed to an earlier version of this article.

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1. Impulsive web browsing

Shutterstock

Since most of us have access to the internet at work, it's easy to get sidetracked looking up the answer to a random question that just popped into your head.

That's why Quora user Suresh Rathinam recommends writing down these thoughts or questions on a notepad. This way, you can look up the information you want later, when you're not trying to get work done.

2. Multitasking

Flickr/David Goehring

While many people believe they're great at doing two things at once, scientific research has found that just 2% of the population is capable of effectively multitasking.

For the rest of us, multitasking is a bad habit that decreases our attention spans and makes us less productive in the long run.

3. Checking email throughout the day

Flickr/Laura D'Alessandro

Constant internet access can also lead people to check email throughout the day. Sadly, each time you do this, you lose up to 25 minutes of work time. What's more, the constant checking of email makes you dumber.

Instead, strategy consultant Ron Friedman suggests quitting Outlook, closing email tabs, and turning off your phone for 30-minute chunks of deep-diving work.

4. Moral licensing

Roy Niswanger on Flickr

Whether it's a new diet, workout routine, or work schedule, one of the most difficult things about forming a new habit is the urge to cheat as a reward for sticking to a routine for a while.

This idea that we "deserve" to splurge on fancy meal after being thrifty for a week is called "moral licensing," and it undermines a lot of people's plans for self-improvement.

Instead, try making your goal part of your identity, such that you think of yourself as the kind of person who saves money or works out regularly, rather than as someone who is working against their own will to do something new.

5. Putting off your most important work until later in the day

Hero Images/Getty Images

People often start off their day by completing easy tasks to get themselves rolling and leave their more difficult work for later. This is a bad idea, and one that frequently leads to the important work not getting done at all.

As researchers have found, people have a limited amount of willpower that decreases throughout the day. That being the case, it's best to get your hardest, most important tasks done at the beginning of the day.

6. Taking too many meetings

Flickr/Kevin Dooley

Nothing disrupts the flow of productivity like an unnecessary meeting. And with tools like email, instant messenger, and video chat at your fingertips, it's best to use meetings for introductions and serious discussions that should only be held in person.

BlueGrace Logistics founder Bobby Harris recommends that people don't accept a meetingunless the person who requested it has put forth a clear agenda and stated exactly how much time they will need. And even then, Harris recommends giving the person half of the time they initially requested.

7. Sitting all day

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

Nilofer Merchant, a business consultant and the author of "The New How: Creating Business Solutions Through Collaborative Strategy Paperback," shares with TED audiences how she's helped several major companies develop successful new ideas: walking meetings.

She recommends forgoing coffee or fluorescent-lighted conference-room meetings in favor of walking and talking 20 to 30 miles a week.

"You'll be surprised at how fresh air drives fresh thinking, and in the way that you do, you'll bring into your life an entirely new set of ideas," she says.

8. Hitting the snooze button

Phalinn Ooi/flickr

It might feel like pressing the snooze button in the morning gives you a little bit of extra rest to start your day, but the truth is that it does more harm than good.

That's because when you first wake up, your endocrine system begins to release alertness hormones to get you ready for the day. By going back to sleep, you're slowing down this process. Plus, nine minutes doesn't give your body time to get the restorative, deep sleep it needs.

This isn't to say you should cut back on sleep. As Arianna Huffington discusses in her TED talk, a good night's sleep has the power to increase productivity, happiness, smarter decision-making, and unlock bigger ideas. The trick for getting enough sleep is planning ahead and powering down at a reasonable time.

9. Failing to prioritize

Francisco Osorio/Flickr

Some people think having lots of goals is the best way to ensure success — if one idea fails, at least there are plenty more in reserve to turn to. Unfortunately, this sort of wavering can be extremely unproductive.

Warren Buffett has the perfect antidote. Seeing that his personal pilot was not accomplishing his life goals, Buffett asked him to make a list of 25 things he wanted to get done before he died. But rather than taking little steps toward completing every one of them, Buffett advised the pilot to pick five things he thought were most important and ignore the rest.

10. Over-planning

Shutterstock

Many ambitious and organized people try to maximize their productivity by meticulously planning out every hour of their day. Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned, and a sick child or unexpected assignment can throw a wrench into their entire day.

Instead, you might want to try planning just four or five hours of real work each day, that way you're able to be flexible later on.

11. Under-planning

Flickr/Gangplank HQ

With that being said, you should take time to strategize before attempting to achieve any long-term goals. Trying to come up with the endgame of a project you're doing midway through the process can be extremely frustrating and waste a huge amount of time.

Harvard lecturer Robert Pozen recommends that you first determine what you want your final outcome to be, then lay out a series of steps for yourself. Once you're halfway through, you can review your work to make sure you're on track and adjust accordingly.

12. Keeping your phone next to your bed

m01229/flickr

The LED screens of our smartphones, tablets, and laptops give off what is called blue light, which studies have shown can damage vision and suppress production of melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate the sleep cycle.

Research also suggests that people with lower melatonin levels are more prone to depression.

13. Perfectionism

Shutterstock

More often than laziness the root of procrastination is the fear of noting doing a good job, says British philosopher and author Alain de Botton on his website, The Book of Life.

"We begin to work only when the fear of doing nothing at all exceeds the fear of not doing it very well … And that can take time," he writes.

The only way to overcome procrastination is to abandon perfectionism and not fuss over details as you move forward. Pretending the task doesn't matter and that it's OK to mess up could help you get started faster.

SIA makes Tiger offer unconditional, extends closing date again

By

Melissa Tanmelissat@sph.com.sg@MelissaTanBT

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has made its S$0.45-per-share takeover offer for Tiger Airways unconditional, it said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Monday morning. 

PHOTO: SPH

JAN 11, 20168:00 AM

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) has made its S$0.45-per-share takeover offer for Tiger Airways unconditional, it said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Monday morning.

It also extended the offer closing date again, from Jan 22 to Feb 5, 5.30pm, noting that it is not permitted to raise its offer price any higher.

SIA had originally said that the offer was conditional upon it reaching a stake of at least 90 per cent.

It and its concert parties controlled a 79.22 per cent stake in Tiger as at 5pm on Jan 8, it added in its Monday filing.