Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer tore down 3 houses to build a pool at her Palo Alto mansion

• The former head of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, tore down three homes to build a pool.
• She bought the houses for $700,000-$800,000 each, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

Marissa Mayer, the former head of Yahoo, demolished three townhouses she bought next to her Bay Area home to make way for a pool, the Silicon Valley Business Journal first reported.

At first, Palo Alto city officials rejected Mayer's proposal, according to the San Francisco Business Times. They cited the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, which prevents people from tearing down existing homes and apartments without plans to replace them with an equivalent number of units.

California has long battled a housing shortage and a homelessness epidemic.

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Despite the law, the city approved Mayer's plans, which include a backyard swimming pool and a one-story building, in December, according to the Business Journal.

"After a closer examination of the rules, staff found that in fact the demolition was permissible as proposed and therefore allowed to proceed," a spokesperson for Palo Alto told the outlet, adding that the plan couldn't go through today due to some new laws.

A representative for the city of Palo Alto didn't immediately return a request for comment. A spokesperson for Mayer said: "The project previously received proper permits so that the parcel is now a single family residence."

Mayer has gone on a property buying spree in Palo Alto over the last decade, sometimes facing criticism from locals.

Neighbors spoke out against the wild Halloween parties Mayer would throw at a former mortuary she bought for $11.2 million in 2013. She faced criticism in 2018 over plans to convert the building into a private women's club.

An LLC connected to Mayer bought the three townhouses next to her residence for between $700,000 and $800,000 in 2011, the Business Times reported. She has also snapped up several other homes and a multi-unit building in the area, according to the outlet.

Mayer was an early employee at Google and served as president and CEO of Yahoo from 2012 until 2017, when Verizon bought the company for $4.8 billion. She has since founded a startup called Sunshine that creates AI-based apps, including a contact manager.