Lachlan Murdoch, co-chairman of News Corp. and executive chairman of 21st Century Fox, who's also an heir apparent of his father's media empire, has quietly bought a property worth $12.5 million. The transaction was a covert, off-market deal for a secluded estate in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles.
Lachlan Murdoch, together with his model-TV presenter wife, Sarah O'Hare, went for a look-see of the $45 million estate of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, before they settled on a 2.3-acre spread at the end of a private lane in the lower Mandeville Canyon area. Property records show that it was acquired through a Sydney-based corporate concern that uses the media heir's initials in its name.
According to Variety, the property was last listed on the open market in late 2013 at just under $12 million. This 6,000 plus square feet estate was originally designed by vaunted California ranch house expert, Cliff May. Cliff had configured the estate with a three-bedroom family wing, a two-bedroom guest wing, and a guesthouse.
The living room of this luxurious estate has great features of a fireplace set into a solid wall of glass, a wet bar with a beer tap, and a walk-in wine cellar. The dining room has an expensively outfitted eat-in kitchen that steps down to a media lounge where a movie screen drops out of the ceiling at the touch of a button.
The estate also features a vast lawn with organic gardens, a swimming pool, a small hillside vineyard, al fresco pizza oven, and vine-draped dining pergola.
News Corp said that Lachlan Murdoch is also the Executive Chairman of NOVA Entertainment Group and Illyria Pty Ltd, as well as director of Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art. He also served as Non-Executive Chairman of Ten Network Holdings. NOVA Entertainment Group became Australia's number one national FM network under the leadership of Lachlan.
Prior to founding a successful private investment company via Illyria in 2005, he was the Deputy Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation, which is now known as 21st Century Fox.
