The world’s richest man just set a new record for priciest home in Los Angeles.
Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos paid $165 million for David Geffen’s palatial Beverly Hills home, sources said. That beats the previous record for priciest residential purchase of $150 million in LA set last year for a Bel Air estate known as Chartwell.
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 paid $47.5 million for it in 1990.
Despite the eye-popping price tag, Bezos appears to have saved on broker fees, said Jeff Hyland, an LA broker and author of “The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills.” 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, the Journal said. Sources confirmed Bezos bought the land, describing it as an “investment.”
As The Post reported earlier this month, Bezos and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, have been furiously shopping for homes with nine-digit price tags in the Beverly Hills and Bel Air neighborhoods in recent weeks.
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, which has listed the property.
“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 13,000-square-foot main residence and a guest house that once housed Hollywood superstars like Marilyn Monroe. It also comes with a pool, tennis court and “entertainment room” complete with concealed drop-down theater screen and projection system — perfect for 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.