Laurene Powell Jobs, billionaire investor and widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, recently made headlines for purchasing a prime oceanfront property in Malibu for $94 million. This latest acquisition adds to Powell Jobs’ growing portfolio of properties in one of the country’s most affluent neighborhoods. Since 2015, she has invested over $170 million in neighboring Malibu properties, with plans to create a sprawling compound on some of Southern California’s most expensive cliffs.
Powell Jobs’ real estate ventures reflect a larger trend among the ultrawealthy in recent years, where neighboring properties are being acquired to build secluded enclaves. The $94 million purchase of Paradise Cove marks the largest home sale in Southern California in 2024 so far. The area has attracted other billionaires like WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. Last year, Beyoncé and Jay-Z set a record with a $200 million purchase in Paradise Cove.
The newly acquired property by Powell Jobs spans four acres and includes a 1950s L-shaped home with four bedrooms and four bathrooms measuring 3,399 square feet. Her journey into property ownership in Paradise Cove began in 2015 with a $44 million purchase of a 13,000-square-foot home that was later demolished. In subsequent years, she acquired more properties in the area, including a $16.5 million home in 2017 and a five-bedroom cottage for $17.5 million in 2021.
Despite setbacks like damage from the Woolsey wildfire in 2018, Powell Jobs continues to build and expand her estate in Paradise Cove. Following Steve Jobs’ passing in 2011, she inherited a massive fortune that includes ownership stakes in Disney and Apple, as well as a 260-foot superyacht. With an estimated net worth of $14.7 billion, Powell Jobs is known for her work as founder and president of The Emerson Collective, an investing firm focused on driving reforms in education, health, climate, and immigration.