Ellen DeGeneres Sells California Mansion for $96M
Comedian and media personality Ellen DeGeneres reportedly sold her 10-acre property in Santa Barbara for a jaw-dropping $96 million.
Property records show that DeGeneres bought the property for $70 million in 2022, giving her a neat 37% profit of $26 million. She acquired the mansion from Bruce Kovner, a retired hedge fund manager. American-Canadian financier Robert Friedland bought the property in Carpintera from DeGeneres.
What does a $96 million home look like? Well, the Carpintera mansion has a floor area of 9,000 square feet. It has five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, walk-in closets, hardwood floors, stone archways, a guest cottage, exposed wood beams, and private beach access among other luxurious amenities.
According to Sean Matthews, a real estate agent working in the area, the multi-million-dollar listing is on Padaro Lane, one of the most exclusive streets in the community. Matthews claims he sold a nearby ranch for $109 million a few years ago.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the sale is part of a bigger deal. DeGeneres is supposedly buying a home in Santa Barbara which she sold to Friedland earlier in 2024. The media outlet says she paid around $32 million for the 8-acre home which was constructed in 1919.
In addition, DeGeneres bought the 3-acre land next to it for a cool $6 million. Since neither DeGeneres nor her wife, Portia de Rossi, have issued statements, we aren’t sure what their plans are for the sprawling land they just purchased.
One of the Richest Women in Hollywood
DeGeneres is one of the richest and most successful women in Hollywood with an estimated net worth of $450 million according to Forbes. She earned around $50 million a year as a host of The Ellen DeGeneres Show which ended in 2022 but she also makes money flipping houses—buying properties, fixing them, and selling them for higher prices.
In December 2018, Netflix released a one-hour comedy special that marked her return to stand-up comedy after 15 years. The deal reportedly fetched DeGeneres $20 million. After its success, the streaming giant announced that it was producing another special that will debut in late 2024.
Netflix’s VP of Stand-Up and Comedy Formats commended DeGeneres’ talent by saying, “There is nobody quite like Ellen. She is a true legend and pioneer in so many ways. We can’t wait to bring fans another one of her hilarious comedy specials later this year.”
Meanwhile, DeGeneres claims that it will be her last special. She humorously told Deadline, “To answer the questions everyone is asking me—Yes, I’m going to talk about it. Yes, this is my last special. Yes, Portia really is that pretty in real life.”
