There ain’t nothin’ Yolanda loves better than gossiping about a crazy-rich heiress who lives to slam down the cash on top-flight real estate. And Mon Dieu, today’s subject is not afraid to bust out the sultan-sized checks. So naturally, although the story has already been thoroughly covered, we just couldn’t resist tossing our $0.02 into the property bucket.
Astute real estate watchers may recall it was only just last year (2015) that Steve Jobs’ widow Laurene Powell Jobs — quietly, with no fanfare — dumped a dumbfounding $44,000,000 (in cash, duh) on an unfinished blufftop estate compound on Paradise Cove, arguably Malibu’s most scenic and desirable stretch of land. It was the 5th-biggest sale of that year in the entirety of LA County.
That house was sold in an off-market deal (and without the aid of real estate agents) by a former investment banker turned magazine owner and aspiring politician named Jack Ryan. Though we digress, we must point out that Mr. Ryan — who was formerly married to actress Jeri Ryan — is perhaps most (in)famous for running as a Republican against Obama in the 2004 Senate election. The controversial widespread media release of Mr. Ryan’s certain (alleged) sexual proclivities — which resulted in him ending his campaign — is sometimes credited with paving a direct path for Obama’s rapid political ascent that ultimately culminated with his current presidency.
But back to less political things. Only a few months before paying Mr. Ryan a huge sum of money for his shell of a Malibu mansion, Mrs. Jobs secretly threw down $16,300,000 for a 10-acre equestrian facility in Los Altos Hills (CA).
The estate was purchased from a local Silicon Valley venture capitalist couple (Alex & Cathy Mendez) and is equipped with state-of-the-art equine facilities including a massive 13,000-square-foot barn with 12 stalls, full-size riding ring, pastures, and the only residential structure on the property: a 2-bed and 1-bath caretaker apartment.
In a recent equestrian facility permit renewal application, Mrs. Jobs — through her LLC — stated that she intends to keep the property and facilities essentially unchanged from prior to the transfer of ownership. Only difference is they shall now be operating as her own private stables.
Moving on: it was also last year that Mrs. Jobs announced her intention to resurrect her late hubby’s hard-fought yet never-completed plan: constructing the couple’s dream mansion on a three-parcel, 9+ acre compound in shockingly-wealthy Woodside (CA).
The property — likely worth a good $20 million (or more) even in its current neglected state — has been vacant land for the last 5 years, since just before Mr. Jobs’ death. In February of 2011, Mr. Jobs tore down the historic “Jackling mansion” on the site after a bitter and protracted fight with local preservation groups.
Mrs. Jobs’ new proposals show a compound measuring a total of nearly 16,000 square feet. However, it’s not a mega-mansion that our gurl is planning to build. Rather, the future estate will be centered around a main residence of a very modest 3,706 square feet. Then, as best Yolanda can tell, there will be at least 8 smaller buildings on the site: two guest houses, a yoga studio, a sauna building, a wine press building, an olive press building, a garden shed, and a relatively small “garden” barn. For more information on the fancy yet decidedly bucolic and rustic project, which was designed by architect Chris Garrick, go here.
In the meantime, while she waits for her new Woodside complex to be constructed, Mrs. Jobs and her kids are believed to still mainly reside at the multi-million-dollar but relatively-modest Palo Alto mini-estate that was purchased by Mr. Jobs back in the mid 1990s.
The English Country-ish style house, 5,678 square feet with 7 bedrooms and only 4.5 bathrooms, sits on a corner lot of an area packed with much larger and more glamorous homes. Apparently Mrs. Jobs still enjoys the modest life, or at least enjoys giving the impression she enjoys living simply.
But now our itchy-footed gurl has gone and done it again, this time on the other side of the country. Back in May (2016), she shut the haters down when she forked over $15,300,000 (in cash, natch) for a 3-acre estate in the equestrian-oriented (and wealthy) Palm Beach County community of Wellington, Florida.
For what it’s worth, the estate was actually acquired by “Even Stride LLC”, an entity that Yolanda found is very easily linked to our gurl. The story was first reported by the hardworking folks at Gossip Extra.
The seller of the estate, according to public records, was another LLC easily linked to a guy named Christian Paillot, a very wealthy equestrian who co-founded the France branch of Samsung Electronics back in the 1980s.
At least Mrs. Jobs definitely won’t have to worry about security for this particular property. That’s because King of the World Bill Gates owns the entire cul-de-sac directly across the street from her new spread. We wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he’s got a battalion of private security guards or a Mad Max-style tank stationed out front. You know how these bazillionaires are.
Supposedly Mrs. Jobs’ new ranch was acquired, according to previous reports, as space for her equestrienne daughter Billie Jo to hone her hardcore horse-handlin’ hobby. Apparently Miss Billie Jo Jobs regularly competes with Bill Gates’ daughter Ginger on the riding circuit, so perhaps that’s a big reason why Mrs. Jobs & fam were drawn to the neighborhood. See? When you’re as rich as Mrs. Jobs, you can indulge your daughter’s hobby by spending $30 million+ on two horse ranches on opposite ends of the country.
Directly next door is another estate that billionaire parking lot king (and former Dodgers owner) Frank McCourt sold to a sick-rich entrepreneur named Hakan Bjorklund earlier this year for $11,850,000.(He has since upgraded to a larger estate just a quick jog away.)
In addition to her $100+ million worth of residential real estate, and as befitting a gal who is now one of the world’s richest women, Mrs. Jobs also lays claim to several other big gurl toys. These include at least two Gulfstream jets — one of them a G650 — and a recently-completed superyacht co-designed by her late hubby and christened “Venus”. Mrs. Jobs was spotted vacationing in the Caribbean on her floating mansion last year with her rumored new boytoy, former Washington, D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty.
Disclaimer: Billie Jo Jobs & Ginger Gates may or may not be the names of Mrs. Jobs’ and Mr. Gates’ daughters, respectively. Yolanda is far too obese and lazy to check that stuff herself, so we don’t know and until these young ladies start buying some prime real estate, we don’t much care. They’re just not on our radar, sorry!