The world’s richest man just set a new record for the priciest home in Los Angeles.
Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos has paid a gaudy N61 billion ($US 165 million) for David Geffen’s palatial Beverly Hills home.
That beats the previous record for the priciest residential purchase of $US 150 million in LA, set last year for a Bel Air estate known as Chartwell, the NY Post reports.
The new record, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, gives Bezos the keys to a nine-acre property known as the Warner Estate after its original owner, Jack Warner, the former head of Warner Bros.
Hollywood producer Geffen reportedly paid $US 47.5 million for it in 1990.
Despite the eye-popping price tag, Bezos appears to have saved on brokers fees, LA broker and author of “The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills” Jeff Hyland told The Post.
Geffen had been “quietly” shopping the estate for $225 million before striking a deal directly with Bezos, Hyland said.
Bezos has also forked over $90 million for a piece of undeveloped land in LA owned by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who died in 2018. Sources confirmed Bezos bought the land, describing it as an “investment.”
Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez have been furiously shopping for homes with nine-digit price tags in the Beverly Hills and Bel Air neighbourhoods in recent weeks, The Post reported earlier this month.
One of the properties he visited was an eight-acre estate in Bel Air that’s seeking $225 million, said Shawn Elliott, a broker with Nest Seekers International.
When you are shopping for a home and there is no budget, you want to see everything on the market. Jeff kept looking until he finally found a home he connected with,” Elliott said.
The Warner Estate boasts a 1,210 sqm main residence and a guesthouse that once housed Hollywood superstars like Marilyn Monroe.
It comes with a pool, tennis court and “entertainment room” complete with concealed drop-down theatre screen and projection system — where he will no doubt be screening Amazon Prime original films.
Bezos is worth an estimated $131 billion, according to Forbes. Microsoft founder Bill Gates is the world’s second-richest man, with an estimated net worth of $113 billion.