Biography & Early Wealth Journey

Originally listed at a quarter of a billion dollars, the price was dropped to $188 million and then $150 million and eventually sold in 2019 to an unknown buyer for $94 million. However, there's a lawsuit over the perceived value of the home. In early 2019, an anonymous Zillow user with a Chinese IP address hacked the website's security measures and changed the sale prices displayed on the listing. In February, it falsely showed the property sold for $110 million. It was later changed to $90.54 million and then to $94.3 million. Makowsky sued Zillow for $60 million in damages. He also claimed that the incident caused permanent harm to the perception of the property since at the time it was listed for $150 million. This lawsuit is awaiting a ruling.

Makowsky may have not been thrilled with selling The Billionaire for just 37.6% of his original asking price, but it was still the third-most expensive home sale in Los Angeles County in 2019. The only two that topped it were Jan Koum's $100 million Malibu mansion, and Petra Ecclestone's The Manor (aka the Spelling Manor), which sold for $119.75 million. The Manor's sale set the record for the highest sale price of a home in California.

As far as spec mansions go, The Billionaire is the second-highest known sale in L.A. County history. Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores bought a spec mansion in Holmby Hills in 2016 for $100 million.