Although it has already been reported in just about every real estate gossip publication, Yolanda will remind y’all that controversial blockbuster film producer Joel Silver (The Matrix, Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Predator) sold his massive pad on Malibu’s insanely pricey Carbon Beach just last week for $38,000,000 in an all-cash deal.
While $38 million is a life-changing fortune to 99.9% of folks in this world, Yolanda wonders how happy Mr. Silver and his longtime wife Karyn actually were with the final sale price. The couple originally wanted $60 million for the property and the last asking price was $52 million. That means the buyer acquired the parcel at a 27% discount, which is pretty damn huge as real estate discounts go. Still, the Silvers received a lot more than the $14,375,000 they originally paid way back in 2003. (However, records show they borrowed massive sums of money against the property, so how much they actually profited will likely remain a mystery, but we digress).
Y’all can decide among yourselves whether the buyer was just a great negotiator of if the house was massively overpriced. (For the record, we happen to think it is likely a mixture of both.)
Anyway, $38 million is still a huge sale, so Yolanda was naturally curious about the new owner’s identity. But silly us! We should have known immediately who it was.
Lo and behold, we discovered that the mysterious individual is none other than the King of Malibu himself: tech bajillionaire Larry Ellison, arguably the world’s foremost collector of trophy real estate.
According to Forbes, Mr. Ellison is the 10th-richest human on the planet with an unfathomable $56.3 billion to his name. Thus, it should come as no surprise that he can afford one or two very expensive houses. Or in his case, twelve. Yes, twelve oceanfront houses — and those are just the ones he owns on Malibu’s Carbon Beach, also known as Billionaires’ Beach. Yolanda tabulated all of Mr. Ellison’s purchases very carefully and we are quite certain that this is his twelfth — or 13th, depending on how you count a certain two-parcel property — home purchase on Malibu’s most exclusive strip of sand.
Since 2002, Mr. Ellison has spent $229,044,000 on his dozen Carbon Beach homes. The cheapest was purchased for $4,800,000, but the average acquisition price was a much more lofty $19,087,000. That means Mr. Ellison spent a small fortune (or a large fortune to most folks) twelve times. And that does not include his Carbon Beach commercial holdings, which push the value up to $300 million+ and include the super-trendy Nobu Malibu restaurant.
Just some fun facts for y’all to mull over. Sorta makes your heads spin, don’t it?
The most expensive single Carbon Beach acquisition to date in Mr. Ellison’s portfolio is the $48,000,000 he paid last year for wealthy widow Lisette Ackerberg’s contemporary mansion extravaganza, which is just two doors down from the house he just acquired from Mr. Silver. The Ackerberg-cum-Ellison property was designed by #MeToo-tainted “starchitect” Richard Meier, in case anyone was wondering.
So why did Mr. Ellison buy the Silver property? Just to add one more notch to his Gucci belt?
It is worth noting that although Mrs. Ackerberg’s property sporting a full-size tennis court, a public accessway dispute eventually forced her to remove it and replace it with a smaller garden and an open walkway. Thus Mr. Silver’s house was publicly marketed as “the only tennis court property on the beachfront“. And Mr. Ellison is known to be an avid tennis fan (and tennis player).
However, kiddies, Yolanda happens to know that there is one other Carbon Beach estate with a tennis court. That would be billionaire Michael Milken’s house, which he bought some years back. But Mr. Milken’s tennis court is smaller than Larry’s so there is that. Maybe the Silver-Ellison house is the only Carbon Beach property with a full-size tennis court?
Another interesting note is that the house between Mr. Ellison’s two newest Carbon Beach mansions has a couple claims to fame: in the 1990s, the property was famously owned by Demi Moore and Bruce Willis. Since July 2000, however, the house has been the property of Matt Groening, the widely acclaimed creator of The Simpsons and Futurama.
Property records show that Mr. Groening originally paid $7,500,000 for this house, though Yolanda would bet our first grandchild that the house has tripled in value in the past 18 years. And given that Mr. Groening owns at least a couple other multi-million-dollar spreads in the Malibu/Santa Monica area, we don’t think he would be opposed to selling out for the right amount. Got another $20-$25 million to spare, Larry?
But we digress. Today we shall take a quick look at Mr. Ellison’s newest home.
The manse is hidden from the freeway (aka Pacific Coast Highway) out front by a curved brick wall with inset gates. Beyond is a tranquil courtyard area with a fountain and walkway that leads to the home’s double front doors.
Indoor spaces feature lots of wood and painted brick. Soaring, skylight-equipped ceilings and bright pops of color in the interior decor set off what would otherwise be a rather grim and dim space.
The main house features 5,879-square-feet of living space with 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, and a detached two-story guest house (of unknown size) includes another 2 bedroom suites and a two-car garage. The master suite in the main residence has walls of glass, a sitting area, and a private covered balcony overlooking the backyard.
The backyard is mostly free of greenery. Instead there is a massive red brick terrace — part of which is tented for sshade — and a dark-bottom swimming pool with a diving board, plus a tiny spa. Oh, and there’s that tennis court.
No word on what Mr. Ellison plans to do with Mr. Silver’s old house, but based on the deeply discounted sale price — and Mr. Ellison’s penchant for property perfectionism — an educated guess would be that the mansion is destined for a comprehensive remodel, if not a total teardown. Y’all can bet on it.
As you can see, Mr. Ellison still has a ways to go until he owns the beachfront in its entirety, but he has made significant ownership inroads on Malibu’s most coveted strip of sand, which has only about 70 private residences (plus a variety of commercial properties and condo complexes).
In addition to his Carbon Beach holdings, Mr. Ellison owns a plethora of other Malibu properties, including a massive compound on Cross Creek Road in the guard-gated Serra Retreat community. Then he has a San Francisco mansion, a $100+ million Japanese-themed compound in Woodside, CA, a Gilded Age mansion in the tony Rhode Island city of Newport, and a sprawling estate in the desert resort community of Rancho Mirage, CA that has its own private 18-hole golf course. And he also owns 98% of the Hawaiian island of Lanaii, just in case anyone forgot.
Listing agent: Judy Feder, Hilton & Hyland
Larry Ellison’s agent: Kurt Rappaport, Westside Estate Agency