I thought Bandar Bush's $135 million Aspen palace was the country's biggest real estate listing. But L.A. begs to differ -- according to the LA Times, the 1920s-era Beverly Hills mansion of William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies was put on the market Monday for $165 million, making it the nation's most expensive residential listing.
Is it worth it? I don't know but it spreads across 6.5 acres north of Sunset Boulevard, has three pools, 29 bedrooms, a state-of-the-art movie theater and even a disco. And the compound boasts six residences: four houses, an apartment and a cottage for the security staff.
The estate was used in the film "The Godfather," including the scene in which a horse's head is found in a movie producer's bed. The seller, attorney-investor Leonard M. Ross, bought the property in 1976 and is now seeking "a lifestyle change."
Unless he's trying to escape the ghost of that horse's head, I don't know why he'd need to change his lifestyle. Then again, I can think of 165 million reasons.
Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates,. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.









