Covid-19 made Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos even richer, and he’s splashed US$175 million on Beverly Hills property including a mansion once owned by Warner Bros.’ co-founder – but why?
Leonardo DiCaprio, Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey all partied with tycoon David Geffen on his superyacht – as did Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sánchez, which is how he may have secured his dream home
Back in February, the Amazon CEO bought the Warner estate, a piece of Hollywood history belonging to billionaire David Geffen. The US$165 million purchase broke the record for the most expensive home sale in California state history.
Then, in July 2020, Bezos appeared to make another purchase, this time right next door: a US$10 million home that shares a hedge with the Warner estate. According to property records viewed by trade publication Variety, Bezos is the new owner of the 1930s-era home in Beverly Hills’ Benedict Canyon neighbourhood.
A spokesperson for Amazon did not respond to request for comment on the sale.
While there are few photos of the estate and the adjacent home, Los Angeles County has plenty of aerial views of the property that give us our best look yet at Bezos’ rumoured purchases.
Jack Warner, the co-founder and one-time president of Warner Bros., built the estate in 1937. He in fact began constructing the property in 1926, beginning with three acres of what used to be California farmland. Slowly but surely, Warner started adding parcels of adjacent land and building out the grounds of the estate, adding a golf course and two ponds.
Warner liked to throw extravagant parties that were attended by stars including Gone With the Wind’s Olivia de Havilland, Jimmy Stewart and moguls like Howard Hughes. An invitation to a party at the estate was apparently one of the most sought-after in Hollywood in the late 1930s and early 40s.
Warner filled the estate with expensive art, including a portrait of his wife, Ann, painted by Salvador Dalí, according to Architectural Digest.
Warner died in 1978, and Ann Warner owned the house until she died in 1990. That same year, the music and movie tycoon David Geffen bought the whole estate, including the art, for US$47.5 million, according to Forbes. The sale set a record at the time.