Three years ago, after many years of living in California‘s Silicon Valley, Gideon Yu traded his Atherton mansion for the bright lights of Los Angeles. The veteran technology executive and his longtime wife Susie dropped $9.5 million on a large house in the suburban neighborhood of Sherman Oaks, where the couple has quietly resided ever since.
But with the heat of summer approaching, the Yus have done what countless other wealthy L.A. families before them already did—they’ve bought an expensive vacation home in the seaside town of Malibu. Records indicate the Yus were the buyers who recently shelled out $52 million—in cash—for a blufftop estate on Malibu’s Point Dume.
Never on the market, the $52 million house recently underwent a major contemporary remodel.
Google Earth
That sale price ranks as the most ever paid for a single-family house on Point Dume, a neighborhood known for its many famous faces. Current residents include Bob Dylan, Sean Penn, Chris Martin, Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson; also in the area are high-profile businesspeople and political figures—Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Jordan’s King Abdullah, billionaire hedge fund manager Chase Coleman and Jeff Bezos, who rents a compound owned by Kenny G.
Because Yu’s new house was never on the market, photos are scant and current details few. But the 0.76-acre property last sold in summer 2020 for $22 million to Stuart and Stephanie Liner, the married real estate developers who have bought and flipped dozens of other luxury estates in the Los Angeles area.
At the time of the Liners’ acquisition, the blufftop compound was an extravagant fixer, supremely well-located but saddled with dated interiors and amenities. The couple subsequently embarked on a multi-year, multimillion-dollar remodel that transformed the 1980s modern-style structure into a chicly contemporary home that happens to feature unobstructed ocean views.
The house sits behind gates and a full-size, lighted tennis court.
James McClain
Robb Report is not sure if these figures are still accurate, but tax records say the house offers five bedrooms and seven bathrooms in about 6,000 square feet of living space. There’s also a full-size tennis court and a backyard swimming pool overlooking the Malibu coastline. Naturally, the residence also transferred with a coveted key to Little Dume Beach, the semi-private and difficult-to-access beach that lies just below the cliffs of Point Dume.
The clifftop property happens to sit right next door to Johnny Carson’s former compound, which was sold in 2019 for $40 million to billionaire Juul investor Riaz Valani. The previous Point Dume sales record was held by another blufftop mansion that transferred for $49 million in early 2022.
Yu, 52, has held multiple high-level tech executive positions over his career, including at both Yahoo and YouTube. However, he’s perhaps best-known for serving as CFO of Facebook from July 2007 until March 2009. Despite Yu’s relatively short stint as CFO, unconfirmed reports say he may have left the social media giant with as much as $500 million in stock.
Today, Yu is a private investor and a member of the ownership group that controls the San Francisco 49ers football team. In 2012, he became the first president of color in NFL history.
Source: Luxury - robbreport.com
