With a net worth of $126 billion, Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world. Keep in mind – that's AFTER he gave his ex-wife MacKenzie $36 billion! Whenever Jeff would visit his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez in Los Angeles, they would either stay at her relatively modest beachfront home in Santa Monica or one of his two Beverly Hills mansions that were bought with MacKenzie. New relationship, new home. And Jeff didn't just buy a home, he bought a kingdom in the heart of Beverly Hills.
It was just revealed that Jeff Bezos has purchased two pieces of real estate in Beverly Hills. In total, he spent $255 million to acquire 130-acres of what is among the most valuable and coveted dirt on the globe. That's around 0.2% of his net worth.
See also: Jeff Bezos Net Worth
The first property he acquired is known as the Jack L. Warner Estate. This transaction cost $165 million. That sets the record for most expensive sale in California history, a record that was set just a few months ago when Newscorp scion Lachlan Murdoch paid $150 million for the Beverly Hillbillies mansion in nearby Bel-Air. This transaction is the second most expensive home purchase in US history. The #1 record belongs to Ken Griffin who spent $238 million on a New York City penthouse almost exactly one year ago.
Covering 10 acres of lush manicured grounds, the Jack L. Warner estate features a 13,600 square-foot mansion that is named for original owner, studio head Jack Warner. He built the mansion, a tennis court and even a 9-hole golf course.
Bezos is buying the estate from entertainment mogul David Geffen. Geffen bought the property, which sits on around 10 acres, in 1990 for $47.5 million. It was the most expensive real estate transaction in US history at that point. FYI, $47.5 million in 1990 is worth the same as around $93 million today after adjusting for inflation.
Jack L. Warner Estate via Google Maps
Jeff's second splurge is just a few minutes up a winding canyon road, technically not in Beverly Hills, but basically. It's in an area called Beverly Hills Post Office. It has a Beverly Hills address but residents of this area do not receive BH services such as police, fire, water, garbage.
This property, known as Enchanted Hill, is 120 acres of vacant hilltop. The late Microsoft founder Paul Allen purchased this spread back in 1997 for $20 million. Three years after he bought the property, Paul tore down the original 10,000 square foot mansion that was built in 1925 by a married pair of silent film stars. Paul then set out to build TWO 50,000 square-foot mansions on the property. Either he struggled to get approval for the new mansions, or he simply grew tired of the project. Whatever happened, today it's mostly overrun with brush and other weeds. Though the property's 1.5 mile driveway does ultimately lead to a flat, well-kept grassy knoll:
Paul listed Enchanted hill for $150 million back in July 2018, just three months before he passed away. The price was cut to $110 million, and now, according to the Wall Street Journal, Bezos' purchase price is $90 million.
So that's one 10-acre property for $165 million and a second 120-acre property for $90 million, for a total of 130 acres and $255 million. FYI, in California one must pay 1% of your purchase price in property taxes every year. For Jeff that means his annual property tax bill for these two properties will be $2.55 million, around $5 million pre-tax. Not that $5 million per year matters for a guy who is worth $126 billion today, but imagine having to earn $416,000 every month just to cover your property tax bill. And that obviously doesn't include maintenance, landscaping, security…
I wonder what Jeff has planned for this property. It's basically a blank slate. I'm drooling just imagining what he might build. It could literally become the most insane mansion/property on the planet.
Congrats to Jeff and Lauren! Feel free to invite us to a housewarming party! And btw, here's a quick list of Jeff's other real estate assets:
- $12.9 million mansion in Beverly Hills, acquired in July 2018
- $24.5 million mansion right next door to the above Beverly Hills home, acquired in 2007
- $23 million mansion in Washington D.C., acquired in 2018. A former museum comprised of two buildings that measure 27,000 square feet of living space
- 300,000 acres in Texas including multiple ranches
- 100,000 additional acres in various parts of the country
- Three units in 25 Central Park West in Manhattan
- $10 million 5-acre property in Medina, Washington, acquired in 1999
- $50 million mansion next door to his property in Medina, acquired in 2005
