Venture Capitalist Mitch Lasky Drops $40 Million on Malibu’s Broad Beach
Veteran Silicon Valley investor Mitch Lasky and his wife Cecilia Barajas have a well-documented affinity for big residential compounds, and now they’ve taken their love out to Malibu’s posh Broad Beach. Records show the Atherton, Calif.-based pair have used several LLCs to pay more than $40 million in two separate transactions for three side-by-side parcels that together span more than 1.6 acres of oceanfront bliss.
Lasky, who is the father of Quadeca — a popular YouTuber, born Benjamin Lasky, who has amassed nearly two million subscribers and more than 200 million lifetime video views — has been a partner at Benchmark Capital for over a decade, though he recently stepped back from actively investing with the company. (Benchmark has become one of the Silicon Valley’s most notable venture firms, famed for its big early bets on Uber, Snapchat, and numerous software companies.) He now holds the deeds to two substantial Broad Beach homes, which together sport nearly 8,000 square feet of living space with 8 bedrooms and 10 baths.
The two houses were offloaded by two different sellers, and the larger property went for about $24.9 million. Sold by face mask entrepreneur Mark Magidson, who scooped it up back in 2007 for $13.3 million, the Japanese-influenced midcentury modern was originally built in 1953 and contains a whopping 126 feet of ocean frontage. Inside, rich wood trim dominates the public areas, which include a breathtaking formal dining room surrounded by three walls of big-picture windows.
There’s also a clubby, wood-paneled den with a fireplace, a gym, a living room with floor-to-ceiling windows that’s separated from the rest of the home by traditional Japanese fusuma doors, and a chef’s kitchen with custom honey-hued cabinetry and top-of-the-line stainless appliances. Upstairs, wraparound balconies offer panoramic ocean and mountain views, and there’s a separate guesthouse for staff and/or overnight guests, plus a massive wooden patio, accented with string lighting, that fronts the sandy public beach.
Lasky simultaneously picked up the smaller property next door for about $15.2 million. Last sold in 2016 for $9.3 million to the late Houston businessman Gale Oliver, the recently reimagined estate is a Moroccan-style compound complete with zany decorative tile and a vaguely Moorish, courtyard-style swimming pool.
Other amenities include a three-car garage, open-plan living spaces — most of them opening to the outdoors via foldaway glass doors — and an epic, magazine-worthy master suite with its own private balcony overlooking the surrounding coastline.
Some of the wealthiest people in Los Angeles — or the entire country, for that matter — have homes on Broad Beach, including multibillionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz, Harbor Frieght Tools owner Eric Smidt, and “Friends” creator Marta Kauffman.
As for Lasky and Barajas, records reveals that this is not the only lavish L.A. compound they own. Over in the leafy Cheviot Hills neighborhood, they’ve got another estate that consists of three adjacent houses, the first acquired way back in 1998 for just $890,000, the second in 2016 for $6.5 million, and the third just this June for $4.2 million.
But the couple’s main residence lies up north in Atherton, arguably the Silicon Valley’s most expensive and exclusive neighborhood. Back in 2014, they paid $7.5 million for a property on one of the city’s best streets, where they subsequently custom-built an 11,000-square-foot mansion that sports formal parterre gardens and a motorcourt that can easily accommodate a dozen cars. That house is just a few doors away from the even larger estates of financial heavy hitters like Warriors baller Steph Curry and WhatsApp’s Jan Koum.
Elisabeth Halsted of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices held the listing on the larger Broad Beach property; Madison Hildebrand and Jennifer Chrisman of Compass shared the listing on the smaller property. Ellen Francisco of Coldwell Banker repped Lasky.
Launch Gallery: Inside Mitch Lasky's Two Side-by-Side Malibu Mansions
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