See the lavish homes 6 billionaires are trying to offload — and why it could be tough for them to find buyers
Anthony Barcelo
- Billionaires Darwin Deason, Michael Dell, and Tony Pritzker are trying to offload homes right now.
- Their properties for sale range from a $31 million penthouse in Boston to a $195 million LA estate.
- It can take a long time for extremely expensive or unique homes to find buyers.
Billionaires regularly want to offload their homes, but the housing market can present some unique challenges for the wealthiest home sellers.
Buyers at high price points don't always love properties customized for the previous owner, and the additional cost of maintenance and upkeep can deter even the deepest pockets. Some people struggling to rid themselves of luxurious properties end up slashing their asking prices. Others forego selling them altogether, choosing to either auction them off or rent them out instead.
At least two billionaires have found buyers for their homes this fall.
Gordon Getty,Β heir to the Getty fortune, found a buyer for his home near Berkeley, outside San Francisco, in less than a month. The 3,991-square-foot house, nicknamed the Temple of Wings, features Corinthian columns and luscious greenery, sold for $5.85 million in September after listing for $5 million in August.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch's three-story, nearly 7,000-square-foot penthouse in Manhattan went into contract on October 10 after more than two years on the market, according to its listing. The former chair of Fox Corporation and News Corp. purchased it for $57.9 million in 2014. In 2022, he listed it for $62 million but dropped the price as low as $28.5 million β a 50% decrease.
A handful of billionaires, however, have homes they're still trying to sell.
Here's a roundup of billionaire-owned properties from Boston to California on the market as of January 6. They are presented in order of last name.
Bernard AndrΓ© Photography
Earlier this year, tech investor Marc Andreessen and his wife Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen listed their $33 million Bay Area mansion.
Touted as ideal for hosts of events and parties, the five-bedroom, four-bathroom home has seven fireplaces, two separate kitchens ready for catering, and custom built-ins throughout to display art. It is located in Atherton, California, near Palo Alto and Stanford, and across the street from the Menlo Circus Club, an exclusive social club.
The Andreessens may not be leaving California altogether, however. The couple has purchased over $250 million worth of real estate in Malibu, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Of the three homes they have acquired over two years in the coastal enclave northeast of LA, the most expensive is a $177 million, seven-acre estate in Malibu's Paradise Cove neighborhood. Known for its picturesque shores that locals fiercely guard, Paradise Cove was once dubbed "the most unfriendly-to-the-public public beach in Southern California," according to San Francisco publication SFGate.
Andreessen's net worth as of January is $1.9 billion, according to Forbes.
Courtesy of Austin Ashline of Future Home Photos
Tech billionaire Darwin Deason has put his oceanfront estate in La Jolla, California, nicknamed the Sand Castle, on the market for an impressive $108 million.
Deason, who sold his IT and business process outsourcing company Affiliated Computer Services to Xerox for $6.4 billion in 2009, initially spent about $26 million on the house and an adjacent parcel of land, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Over about six years, Deason poured an additional $60 million into transforming the property into a breathtaking 13,000-square-foot mansion, drawing inspiration from Versailles and the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, a five-star retreat for celebrities in the South of France.
The estate includes a seven-bedroom main house and a three-bedroom guest house, with 14 full bathrooms and three half-bathrooms. It also features a pool, two cabanas, a fitness center, and an elevated, private beach with sand Deason imported from the Augusta, Georgia, golf course where the famed Masters tournament is played.
If the property sells even near its listing price, it will more than double the San Diego County record of $44.1 million set by billionaire Egon Durban in 2023.
Deason is worth $1.3 billion as of January, according to Forbes.
Lucas Scott, Nauset Media
Dell Technologies Chairman and CEO Michael Dell is no stranger to eye-popping real estate.
In 2015, he was the buyer of what was then the most expensive home ever sold in New York City, a $100 million penthouse overlooking Central Park on West 57th Street, aka Billionaires' Row. He raised his kids in a sprawling 33,000-square-foot Austin compound dubbed "The Castle" that featured both indoor and outdoor pools.
As of January, Dell's net worth was $119.6 billion, according to Forbes.
Now Dell is looking to unload two Boston properties he bought in 2020.
The first is a penthouse in Boston's tallest residential tower, One Dalton, which is one of the Four Seasons' private residences. The ultra-luxe home comes complete with 24-hour white-glove concierge service and a 570-square-foot private balcony. Originally listed at $34 million, the price has been reduced to $31 million as of October.
Dell's second Boston property for sale is a $9.45 million penthouse on the 54th floor of Boston's Millennium Tower, located just steps from the iconic Boston Commons park. This property features floor-to-ceiling windows with panoramic views of the city and the Charles River.
Google Street View
Ken Griffin, who founded Citadel, a hedge fund that manages $92.46 billion in total assets as of September 2023, is offloading a few condos in Chicago.
Griffin famously relocated his managing firm to Florida in 2022. He also set himself up pretty nicely by spending about $169 million on properties in one neighborhood between 2020 and 2023. He also bought two bay front houses in Coconut Grove in 2022.
He's seemingly all in on Florida, but still has some loose ends to clean up in the Midwest.
Griffin bought a Chicago penthouse and three other units for $59 million in 2017 in what is still the city's biggest real-estate deal.
Records show he bought the top two floors, totaling about 15,000 square feet, for $34 million. The units are the top two floors of the No. 9 Walton building and are unfinished. Griffin has never lived in them.
In November, he sold those units for $19 million, taking a 44% loss on the sale. He's not quite yet done as the other two units he owns are still for sale.
According to Forbes, Griffin's net worth is $45.9 billion as of January.
David McNew/Getty Images
The owner of the Golden State Warriors basketball team, Joe Lacob, once claimed to be one of the best blackjack players in the world, winning $1 million in one sitting at least nine times.
Lacob must be hoping his luck hasn't run out as he tries to sell his Malibu mansion for $44 million.
The home on Carbon Beach has five bedrooms across about 5,500 square feet. It allows for indoor-outdoor living, with open balconies throughout to enjoy California's balmy climate.
It also has Hollywood-glam touches like a waterfall wall, a movie theater, and a glass-enclosed gym.
The third level is a prime entertaining space, complete with a barbecue island, a fire pit, a lounge area, and a hot tub.
Lacob does have a history of good bets. In 2010, he and other investors purchased the Golden State Warriors for $450 million. In July, the New York Post estimated the franchise's value to be $5.4 billion.
Lacob, a former venture capital investor, is worth $2.1 billion as of January, according to Forbes.
Anthony Barcelo
Tony Pritzker, chairman and CEO of Pritzker Private Capital, built one of the country's largest and most luxurious homes.
Pritzker and his former wife Jeanne spent six years constructing a 50,000-square-foot megamansion in the hills of Beverly Crest, an upscale neighborhood in Los Angeles' Westside.
After their contentious divorceΒ earlier this year, the home landed on the market in October for a staggering $195 million.
The estate has 16 bedrooms and 27 bathrooms over six acres. Amenities include a tennis court, a basketball court, a cliffside pool, a detached guest house, a bowling alley, and a private movie theater. The house's perch also offers stunning 180-degree views of the Los Angeles skyline.
The Wall Street Journal reported that if the Pritzker estate sells for its asking price of $195 million, it will set a record for the most expensive home sold in Los Angeles. This record is currently held by Jeff Bezos, who spent $165 million on the Warner Estate, located 1.4 miles away, in 2020.
According to Forbes, Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, has a net worth of $4.1 billion as of January.
