Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has bought a Beverly Hills mansion from media mogul David Geffen in a record-breaking transaction for Los Angeles, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The world’s richest man is said to have paid $165m (£126m) for the property – known as the Warner Estate – which would make it the most expensive home in the Los Angeles area.
It is listed in The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills book, which was quoted in the Journal as saying: “No studio czar’s residence, before or since, has ever surpassed in size, grandeur, or sheer glamor the Jack Warner Estate on Angelo Drive in Benedict Canyon.”
In 1990, Mr Geffen purchased the property for $47.5m (£36m), which was also a record for Los Angeles at that time.
He then reportedly gutted the home except for a wooden floor said to be the one that Napoleon stood on as he proposed to Josephine, and wood panels believed to be carved by a Chippendale, according to the Los Angeles Times.
It is not yet clear whether Mr Bezos, whose net worth is an estimated $131bn (£100bn), will use the estate as his main residence.
The billionaire is also said to have purchased $90m (£69m) worth of undeveloped land in Los Angeles from the estate of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and a further three apartments in an $80m (£61m) deal in New York earlier this month.
It comes a week after the New York Post said the 56-year-old and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, were scouting out possible mansions in Los Angeles.
He had been searching for a new home since last year, the Post said.
