Robert Friedland, a mining billionaire, and Ellen DeGeneres have switched homes in California.
Less than two years after buying it for roughly $70 million, DeGeneres—the TV star well-known for her successful real estate transactions—sold a blufftop mansion close to Santa Barbara, California, for $96 million, according to property records. Records pertaining to the Carpinteria property indicate that the buyer is an organization connected to Friedland. Additionally, records indicate that in June, DeGeneres and her spouse, Portia de Rossi, paid Friedland $32 million to repurchase the Santa Barbara house they had earlier this year sold him for the same sum.
Requests for comments from Friedland, DeGeneres, and de Rossi went unanswered.
Famous people have been drawn to Carpinteria, a coastal hamlet close to Santa Barbara and Montecito, including actor Kevin Costner and director George Lucas. Records indicate that DeGeneres sold a property consisting of two parcels totaling approximately 10 acres, featuring an approximately 8,000-square-foot mansion featuring exposed wood beams, a patio, and a guest cottage. In 2022, DeGeneres and de Rossi purchased the house from Bruce Kovner, a retired hedge fund manager. The 22-acre property was developed over years by Kovner, the founder of Caxton Associates, before it was listed for $160 million in 2021. Zillow lists the approximately 8,000-square-foot house, which he still owns, for $75 million on 12 acres.
The property is located on Padaro Lane, one of the area’s premier streets, said real-estate agent Sean Matthews of Compass, who wasn’t involved in a deal but listed a ranch property nearby for $109 million a few years ago
The Santa Barbara estate is a circa-1919 home on about eight acres. DeGeneres and de Rossi also paid $6 million to buy a vacant, roughly 3-acre property next door from another seller, according to property records.
Friedland is founder and chairman of Ivanhoe Capital, which invests in the mineral and energy sectors. He recently sold another Carpinteria property for about $49.6 million after buying it for roughly $46.9 million in 2023, records show.
DeGeneres and de Rossi are known to be prolific real-estate investors. In 2020, they paid $49 million to buy a Montecito estate from comedian and political commentator Dennis Miller and his wife, former model Carolyn Espley-Miller.
Prices and sales volume for single-family homes in Santa Barbara, Montecito and Carpinteria rose during the first five months of 2024 compared with the same period last year, according to real-estate brokerage Village Properties. The number of single-family home sales in South Santa Barbara County rose 19% year-over-year, while the median sale price was $2.265 million, up 8% year-over-year.