Mark Zuckerberg's tone-deaf gift to neighbours in bid to drown out construction noise

Neighbours have called Mark Zuckerberg "sickening" after he gave out gifts to them which has caused them even more resentment over his property empire.

The billionaire CEO of Metais understood to have had his staff had out noise-cancelling headphones to fellow residents where he lives in Palo Alto, California, so they can block out the sound coming from construction work at his 11-home compound. As well as the devices, neighbours have been given bottles of sparkling wine and boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

For more than 10 years the Facebook founder and his wife Priscilla Chan have been acquiring properties in the Crescent Park neighbourhood and converting the affluent area, made up of many business executives and professors, into his fiefdom. They have 11 properties which are now believed to be worth more than £80million.

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Neighbours have been left angered at the way they feel the neighbourhood has been “occupied” with Zuckerberg having had guest houses, gardens, a private school and underground facilities constructed. They have said that the area has become like a construction site and caused plenty of noise and disruption.

In the centre of the compound even sits a massive seven-foot tall statue of Zuckerberg's wife that the tycoon debuted last year on his Instagram.

“No neighborhood wants to be occupied,” Michel Kieschnick, who lives on Hamilton Avenue told the New York Times.“But that’s exactly what they’ve done. They’ve occupied our neighbourhood.”

He continued: “Billionaires everywhere are used to just making their own rules — Zuckerberg and Chan are not unique, except that they’re our neighbours. But it’s a mystery why the city has been so feckless.”

Mr Kieschnick and other neighbours told how Zuckerberg has also added 7,000 square feet of underground space which he has described as basements but they claim to be like bunkers.

Social media users say the gifts are more insulting than conciliatory. One called the gesture the equivalent of saying: “Sorry for being an insufferable d*****nozzle, here are some noise cancelling headphones.” Another posted, “These a****** live in such a different world than us, and it’s f****** sickening.”

Others chimed in: “WHAT AN A******,” one wrote, while another asked: “At what point do the rich lose their sensibility and become narcissists?”

And neighbour Peter Baltay, recalled his own run-in with Zuckerberg’s security while looking at the construction site. “I said ‘I’m standing on the sidewalk looking at this project for review," reportedly said Mr Baltay, an architect. “He said: ‘Well, we’d appreciate it if you could move on.’ I was pretty shocked by that.”