WSJ: Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner Asks $225M for Massive Malibu Compound
If it fetched that price, the Robert A.M. Stern-designed estate would become the priciest ever sold in California and one of the most expensive ever traded in the world
Former Disney chairman and chief executive officer Michael Eisner is asking $225 million for his cliff-top compound in Malibu, Calif.
If the deal closes for that amount, the home will be the most expensive ever sold in California and one of the priciest in the world.
The Robert A.M. Stern-designed estate comprises nine structures on roughly 5 acres, connected by gardens and courtyards, according to listing agent Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency. On a bluff above a tiny beach known as Watkins Cove, the property has an oceanfront cabana accessed via a cliff-side elevator, Mr. Rappaport said.
The roughly 25,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style estate, which has antique stonework and terra-cotta roofs, is reminiscent of old estates along France’s Côte d’Azur, Mr. Rappaport said. Its amenities include a gym, several guesthouses, an office and a pool that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. An underground tunnel from the pool area leads to a large movie theater. The property has a total of 16 bedrooms and 28 bathrooms across the main house and guesthouses, as well as a two-bedroom caretaker’s cottage.
Mr. Eisner and his wife, Jane Eisner, originally purchased a piece of land on the bluffs in the mid-1990s and have been adding adjacent parcels since then, Mr. Rappaport said. The estate comprises at least five separate parcels, records show. The Eisners commissioned Mr. Stern, an architect known for designing iconic New York City buildings like 15 Central Park West, to design the property. The compound was gradually constructed over decades and finally completed in 2020, Mr. Rappaport said.
Mr. Rappaport said Mr. Eisner is selling because he “loves the creative process” and wants to find another project. Mr. Eisner’s property portfolio includes a ranch in Snowmass, Colo., a mansion in Bel-Air and an apartment on New York’s Upper East Side, records show.
The estate comes on the market amid a boom in high-priced Malibu properties. Late last year, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and his wife, Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, purchased a Malibu compound for $177 million from fashion mogul Serge Azria, setting a California record. The Andreessens have since purchased at least two more Malibu properties, according to people familiar with their holdings.
Other Malibu homes have sold for similarly eyebrow-raising sums in recent years. In 2018, a Richard Meier-designed estate owned by Hard Rock Cafe founder Peter Morton sold for $110 million.
Mr. Rappaport said the price tag on the Eisner property is warranted because the compound would be nearly impossible to replicate today in terms of scale, location and beach access.
Mr. Eisner, 80, a media and entertainment industry veteran, served as chief executive of Disney from 1984 to 2005. He now heads the investment firm the Tornante Company, through which he owns Britain’s Portsmouth Football Club.
