The cars that tech CEOs and founders have driven — from flashy McLarens to more modest sedans (2024)

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Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is worth $185 billion which makes him the fourth richest person in the world.

Despite this, Zuckerberg has far from extravagant tastes when it comes to cars, clothes, and travel.

He's been seen in a black Acura TSX, a Volkswagen Golf GTI hatchback, and a Honda Fit — all of which are valued at or under $30,000 — and recently posted a photo on Instagram of two refurbished Ford Broncos, captioned "his and hers."

The Meta CEO has reportedly owned at least one luxury sports car: an Italian Pagani Huayra.

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Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos is the second-richest person in the world. Yet he doesn't seem to be too fussed about being seen in expensive cars.

The Amazon founder and former CEO was once famous for his frugal driving habits; according to the book "The Everything Store," as recently as 2013, he would drive a Honda Accord to the office.

In 2021, a Blue Origin video showed him behind the wheel of a Rivian R1T electric pickup.

He has famously splurged on a much larger mode of transportation, however — a reported $500 million superyacht.

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Elon Musk

As CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk's choice of wheels won't be a huge surprise.

In a 2019 tweet, Musk revealed that he does have favorites and mostly drives the Tesla Model S Performance, but occasionally takes to the Model 3 Performance and Model X when he's with his kids.

More recently, in a 2023 earnings call, he said that Tesla's Cybertruck — which, at that time, had not yet been released — would soon become his everyday vehicle of choice. He's been spotted at the wheel of the polarizing design since then.

In addition to driving Teslas, Musk has also owned a Ford Model T, a Jaguar E-Type Series 1 Roadster. But perhaps his most impressive car is the 1976 Lotus Esprit submarine car, used in the 1977 James Bond film, "The Spy Who Loved Me," which he bought at auction in London for $997,000 in 2013.

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Sam Altman

Sam Altman, the cofounder of ChatGPT-developer OpenAI, doesn't try to hide his passion for nice cars.

He has been spotted driving a McLaren F1 — a limited series that most recently auctioned for a staggering $20 million, according to J.D. Power. Yep, you read that number right.

Altman owns another McLaren, an old Tesla, and at least two other racing cars, he told The New Yorker.

Altman also has a more practical side; he has said that riding UberX in San Francisco was cheaper than driving his Tesla Roadster around. "I have an expensive car, so it's not a super fair comparison, but I still think it's interesting," he wrote in a 2015 blog post.

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Jensen Huang

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is a self-styled "true car enthusiast."

In 2015, Nvidia posted a photo on Twitter of Huang receiving a Tesla Model X. Huang, standing in front of a garage full of Teslas, wrote in the caption that he loved his "new rocket."

More recently, though, Huang has given the impression of a Mercedes man. In a 2020 commercial, he appeared behind the wheel of a Mercedes S-class, touting the line's Nvidia-powered internal computers.

In the commercial, Huang said his first "nice car" was a Mercedes S-500.

"You can imagine how excited I was when Mercedes invited Nvidia to help build the computers for their next generation cars," he added.

He is now driving around in a Mercedes EQS electric luxury sedan, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

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Bill Gates

Bill Gates is an avid luxury car collector. He once said his biggest splurge after founding Microsoft was buying a Porsche 911 supercar, which he later sold.

The Microsoft cofounder seems to have a passion for Porsches. One of the best cars in his collection is his Porsche 959 sports car. And in 2020, he revealed in an interview with Marques Brownlee that he had bought an electric Porsche Taycan.

"It is very, very cool," he said at the time. "This is my first electric car, and I am enjoying it a lot."

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Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, is currently the sixth-richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. But that doesn't necessarily translate to lavish taste in cars.

Ballmer is a loyal Ford customer; his father was a longtime Ford employee in Detroit, according to The Seattle Times. At one point, he drove a Ford Fusion hybrid sedan — personally delivered to him by Ford's then-president and CEO Alan Mulally.

Despite his family's wealth, the ex-Microsoft chief managed to instill that same ethic of modesty in his children. His son, Pete Ballmer, recently told BI that he still drives a 2015 Ford Focus — one which had been originally bought for Pete's younger brother in high school.

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Michael Dell

Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, is known for having a lavish real estate portfolio, with properties in Austin, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. He also has his fair share of classic luxury cars. These have included a 2004 Porsche Boxster, a Porsche Carrera GT, and a Hummer H2.

It's not clear if he's owned any electric vehicles yet, but he has praised Elon Musk, who gave him a tour of a Tesla plant in Texas earlier this year. Dell posted a photo of the two next to a Tesla Cybertruck, calling the experience "most impressive and inspiring."

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Larry Ellison

Larry Ellison, the cofounder and chairman of Oracle, is known for his extravagant spending habits. He collects real estate, cars, airplanes, and yachts.

When it comes to cars, his collection has included an Audi R8, a McLaren F1, a Lexus LFA, and the Lexus LS 600h L, according to the LA Times.

He's also known for giving expensive gifts, once offering a friend an Acura NSX, which costs more than $100,000.

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Larry Page and Sergey Brin

Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who founded Google together in 1998, are usually among the 10 richest people in the world. That means that personal jets and yachts aren't much of a stretch for them.

However, the duo is more conservative when it comes to their car choices and have both owned a Toyota Prius.

Neither of them are strangers to electric cars — especially since they were both early investors in Tesla. Brin was the fourth person to receive a Tesla Model X crossover (sporting a white paint job) when it was first released in 2015.