Gateway co-founder Ted Waitt has paid $34.2 million for the Malibu estate of fashion designer James Perse. : Tech billionaire Ted Waitt, who in the ’80s co-founded the computer hardware giant Gateway Inc., has bought a Malibu estate from fashion designer James Perse for $34.2 million, according to sources not authorized to comment on the deal. Perse had owned the estate for about a decade, according to property records. The off-market sale closed in mid-June but only just surfaced in the public record.