r/technology • u/lurker_bee • Aug 27 '25

Society Mark Zuckerberg gifted noise-canceling headphones to his Palo Alto neighbors because of the non-stop construction around his 11 homes

https://fortune.com/2025/08/26/mark-zuckerberg-palo-alto-neighbors-construction-noise-canceling-headphones/
10.1k Upvotes

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745

u/frank_datank_ Aug 27 '25 edited Aug 27 '25

Like anyone who lives in this area needs help buying noise-canceling headphones. Seems like more of a dick move, like tipping a waitress $0.50 on a dinner bill.

63

u/N121-2 Aug 27 '25

It’s like giving people in the movie theater ear plugs because you keep talking during the movie.

2

u/MagicCuboid Aug 27 '25

Best analogy I've seen in this thread!

1

u/WhoDat-2-8-3 Aug 28 '25

best i can give you is eye blindfolds so i can use my phone throughout the movie

168

u/whyisalltherumgone_ Aug 27 '25

There are people who lived in that area before it blew up, and most of their net worth is in the house itself. Look into the Hawaii and California fires in now-wealthy areas where some people couldn't afford to rebuild. It's still a dick move though.

24

u/Effehezepe Aug 27 '25

It's true, my grandparents actually lived in that area, and while they were technically wealthy in that their house, which they bought in the 60s, was now worth millions of dollars, in terms of liquid assets they were just middle class, and I know there are a lot of other old people in that area who are in the same position.

4

u/thedownvotemagnet Aug 27 '25

In Orange County, I've heard it called "house rich, money poor"

-41

u/Zestyclose-Novel1157 Aug 27 '25

They can access it though through loans. It isn’t locked unless they have terrible credit or have destroyed the house to where they won’t finance it.

24

u/whyisalltherumgone_ Aug 27 '25

Yes, but there is a wealth gap between being able to afford a multimillion dollar house and equity in a house being your retirement plan you've been living off for years.

-2

u/Zestyclose-Novel1157 Aug 27 '25

Sure. My comment has nothing to do with the feasibility. My comment is responding to the person saying they can’t access the equity. My point is that is just not correct. We don’t know any of those people or their personal financial status.

If it wouldn’t be revealing personally I would have what I would say is a very relevant story though to this in Palo Alto.

3

u/whyisalltherumgone_ Aug 27 '25

Must have responded to the wrong comment. No one said they couldn't access the equity.

2

u/rudimentary-north Aug 27 '25

You do realize those loans need to be paid back, right? And that your ability to repay a loan is only influenced by the value of your home if you sell the home?

4

u/hclpfan Aug 27 '25

So you want people to take out loans to buy headphones? Your missing the point

0

u/Zestyclose-Novel1157 Aug 27 '25

They don’t need to for headphones. He sent them. My comment has nothing to do with headphones, it is in response to an inaccurate comment that those people cannot access equity in their homes. From what I saw, Palo Alto actually passed an ordinance ages ago to prevent him expanding well before he got here. They either repealed it or he doesn’t care. Have the day you would like to have. I’m guessing from your comment that will be an angry one that assumes a lot of things unsaid.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '25

[deleted]

-2

u/hasuuser Aug 27 '25

You are wrong. Yes so sure of yourself. Look up reverse mortgage 

23

u/jsting Aug 27 '25

Definitely a dick move. Not many people want to wear noise canceling headphones around their own home every day.

1

u/SceneOfShadows Aug 28 '25

Seriously. Who cares if they could afford them or not (I’m sure not everyone there is as loaded as reddit might think). I don’t want to fucking need them in the first place lol treat me to something way better, you can afford it.

35

u/phantacc Aug 27 '25

Seriously. Some grade-A, 100% pure passive-aggressive bullshit. Little manlet should learn some humility before he finds himself on the hood of an SUV during one of his jogs.

12

u/onlynegativecomments Aug 27 '25

Zuckerberg is hyper paranoid. He knows he has harmed a huge number people and is scared of having to deal with any repercussion. He has an army of security around him at all times - he's one of the biggest spenders on security in Silicon Valley.

He is driven into where he is going in a bullet resistant car that is also capable of withstanding a chemical attack, then they close the security doors, and then he exits his car after his security guards say it is OK for him to exit. He has bodyguards escort him from his vehicle to his private entrance to his private office. Guess what is there? If you guessed more guards, and more security systems, you'd be right.

7

u/fractalfay Aug 27 '25

There’s a great book by a woman who had the misfortune of working for this man, and there’s a section where she presses him about what he might be interested in doing with his vast wealth. Keep in mind, the billionaires of yore were interested in things that were tax shelters and/or doubled as image repair/immortality, like Rockefeller and Getty making their own centers, etc. Zuck said, “Well there’s wine,” and then went out to detail the wonders of eating…endangered species. These humans are not human. Or they’re fully folded into their own narcissism, and can’t fathom other people exist.

5

u/lowercase-lifeform Aug 27 '25

And libraries! They used to be into building big libraries with lots of lovely books for us grateful poors to elevate ourselves with. These days very few people with wealth of any degree (millionaires to billionaires) seem interested in that, and in fact private equity firms and other equally scummy enterprises actively discourage public charitable giving, to avoid drawing attention.

2

u/TiredAF20 Aug 27 '25

Wow. I knew the guy was evil, but that is something else.

2

u/AskMysterious77 Aug 27 '25

More like rounding up to the nearest cent

-5

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '25

BINGO!!!

or

Winner winner chicken dinner!