In one of California’s largest-ever residential real estate transactions, it looks like the Malibu mega-compound owned, Ron Meyer, vice chairman of NBC Universal, is in escrow for over $100 million. Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and the Wall Street Journal all reported on the deal last week, saying that even though the transaction isn’t publicly recorded yet, “It’s become widely known that the deal is now all but done.”
The house had been on the market for $125 million for over a year, and sources assume the final price was over $100 million even though the grant deed isn’t officially filed yet. Two unrelated sources both indicated that the property is being purchased by tech billionaire Jan Koum, Ukrainian-born co-founder of WhatsApp, an international messaging service. WhatsApp, founded in 2009, was sold to Facebook in 2014 for $19 billion. Koum’s personal net worth is estimated to be around $10 billion.
Meyer owned the three-acre bluff top property near Paradise Cove since 1997, when he bought it for $5 million and had it completely remodeled by the late architect Charles Gwathmey. The property features a 14,000 square-foot main house, pool, tennis court and two small guesthouses. The house is invisible from the Pacific Coast Highway, hidden behind a tall hedgerow and driveway gate.
Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency represented both sides of the deal.