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WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum seems to be swapping the tech world for luxury real estate.
Koum is in the process of buying a Malibu, Calif., mansion for $87 million—his second massive real estate purchase in the past five months and the third since 2019, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the deal. The most recent purchase is the house next door to one he bought in 2019 for $100 million.
Last August, Koum bought Quibi cofounder Jeffrey Katzenberg’s custom-built 26,000-square-foot Beverly Hills home, which sits on nearly seven acres, for $125 million.
The new property once belonged to billionaire media mogul Barry Diller and, earlier, the late country singer Kenny Rogers. Rogers added a funicular from the cliff the house sits on down to the ocean—a home improvement that brought with it a $2 million fine from city officials.
The three-acre estate houses a five-bedroom domicile with vaulted ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows. It also comes with its own recording studio and dance studio, koi pond, pool, three-bedroom guesthouse, and a guardhouse.
There’s also a cabana with an oceanfront view, wet bar and barbecue, and fire pit.
Koum stepped down from Facebook in 2018. The social media giant bought WhatsApp four years prior to that for $22 billion in cash, and Bloomberg’s billionaire index puts his current wealth at $12.5 billion, making him the 185th richest man in the world.
His departure came amid whispers that he butted heads with Facebook’s board over the use of personal data collected by WhatsApp. In his departure note, though, he said, “I’m taking some time off to do things I enjoy outside of technology, such as collecting rare air-cooled Porsches, working on my cars, and playing Ultimate Frisbee.”
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