Ari Emanuel Takes $5 Million Loss on Spare L.A. House
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Ever since coronavirus woes first stifled Hollywood’s output, nearly all industry eyes have been locked on Endeavor. Over the last few months, the high-profile and once high-flying media conglomerate has seen its wings clipped in a particularly humiliating fashion. First came the PR nightmare of its scuttled IPO and subsequent credit downgrade, and the already cash-strapped company’s troubles have been further exacerbated by coronavirus chaos. Cost-cutting measures, salary cuts and layoffs have all been implemented since April, and rumors of further troubles have also been rampant.
Amid all the chatter, Ari Emanuel — Endeavor’s larger-than-life CEO — has quietly inked a deal to sell a residential property he owns in L.A.’s celeb-studded, highly coveted Brentwood neighborhood. The off-market, all-cash transaction went down in mid-May, property records reveal, and rang in at $6.5 million. The buyer, shielded behind a blind trust, remains as yet unidentified.
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Unfortunately for Emanuel, that sale price represents a brutal $5 million loss on the half-acre estate that he paid $11.5 million for less than two years ago, back in summer 2018. The property, which sits near the mouth of the bucolic Mandeville Canyon area, currently contains a 4,300 sq. ft. house originally built in 1976, plus a pill-shaped swimming pool and broad, grassy lawns.
But it’s not particularly surprising Emanuel has opted to unload the place, even at a punishing loss. Back in 2018, he paid a notably premium price for the estate just because it happened to sit directly next door to his main residence — at that time, he planned to combine the two properties into one supersized estate worthy of a Hollywood mogul.
For publicly unknown reasons, Emanuel’s grand compound plans never materialized, and last year he sold the larger house for $19.4 million to low-profile hedge fund tycoon David G. Brown. The smaller property, however, wouldn’t sell until Emanuel finally agreed to a deep discount on the relatively modest house.
The estate, quietly marketed as a “development opportunity” — often code for a teardown in realtor-speak — has its fair share of quaint charm. Still, it seems almost certain the unknown buyer will knock down the existing structure, making way for a much larger mansion similar to the lavish homes of nearby neighbors, who include Gwyneth Paltrow, CAA’s Richard Lovett, Trent Reznor and billionaire Mark Attanasio.
It appears Emanuel, now in his late 50s and still estimated to be worth a nine-figure fortune, does not currently own a home in Los Angeles. Last year, there was speculation that he planned to acquire a historic estate on a prime Bel Air hilltop. But that deal was never consummated, and the house was eventually sold for $28 million to co-founders of the Too Faced cosmetics brand.
Back in 2005, Emanuel paid $10 million for a large home elsewhere in Brentwood, though that property was deeded over to his ex-wife Sara Addington some years ago.
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