NEW YORK (AFP) - Texas-born billionaire Michael Dell has been revealed as the buyer of a US$100 million (S$130 million) Manhattan penthouse that holds the record for most expensive home purchased in New York, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday (Feb 22).

The Dell Technologies founder and chief executive officer dropped US$100.47 million on the six-bedroom, six-bathroom home in One57, an iconic, more than 300m-tall glass tower on West 57th Street that dominates the upper Manhattan skyline.

While the deal closed in 2014, mystery had surrounded the identity of the buyer until the Journal named 52-year-old Dell on Thursday, citing two people familiar with the deal.

The married father of four and University of Texas dropout has a net worth of US$23.2 billion, making him the 38th wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes. He founded Dell in 1984 aged just 19.

According to New York's city department of buildings, an acclaimed Texas-based firm of architects was tapped in 2014 to renovate the penthouse duplex.

The Journal said that, according to public records, it is the first and only property in the city to break the US$100 million barrier.

However, that record is expected to be broken by the sale of a penthouse at a nearby project at 220 Central Park South.

Ninety stories high, One57 affords so-called helicopter views of Central Park, the East River and harbor beyond. It was designed by the award winning French architect Christian de Portzamparc.

Dell also owns a seven-bedroom home in Hawaii, according to Forbes.