Celebrity Net Worth: Matt Damon buys LA penthouse for $8.6m
In our fortnightly celebrity investment and wealth round-up, Rory McIlroy denies he was offered $850 million to join LIV Golf and Amitabh Bachchan invests in plot of land
The apartment offers views of Beverly Hills, the Hollywood Hills and the San Gabriel Mountains through floor-to-ceiling walls of glass, luxury lifestyle magazine Robb Report said.
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom property at 8899 Beverly, one of Los Angeles’ newest and most luxurious condominium buildings, offers just under 2,900 square feet of living space.
Designed by architecture firm Olson Kundig, 8899 Beverly is the tallest residential building in West Hollywood, according to the development's marketing materials.
The apartment came on to the market last summer at nearly $9 million, the report said.
Chief among the unit’s amenities is a 1,600 square foot private outdoor terrace, which the listing noted is one of “the grandest and most expansive outdoor spaces available in the building”.
Other bespoke touches include a handcrafted leather door handle leading to the gourmet kitchen.
Damon will shell out nearly $5,000 per month in homeowner dues at the new building, according to the Robb Report.
The Oppenheimer actor, his wife and four daughters left their Pacific Palisades, California, mansion in 2020 for a 6,200 square foot penthouse in Brooklyn, New York,the report said.
Damon and his wife bought the Pacific Palisades mansion in 2012 for $15 million and sold it for $18 million in 2021 to its current owners, former Warner Bros chief executive Ann Sarnoff and her husband, private equity guru Richard Sarnoff.
For the past several years, the Damon family has primarily resided in New York, where they split their time between the $16 million penthouse in the trendy Brooklyn Heights neighbourhood and an $8 million estate in the upstate enclave of Bedford Hills, the report said.
Damon’s 2020 move to Brooklyn caused quite a stir at the time, according to the New York Post's gossip website Page Six.
Not only did the purchase mark Brooklyn’s priciest apartment sale when Damon bought the penthouse in 2018 for $16.7 million, the Bourne actor had also shut down an entire street in the neighbourhood to house moving lorries filled with furniture. A crane was used to hoist the family's belongings into their new home, the report said.
Damon, 53, ranks as one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He’s appeared regularly in films since his 1988 debut in Mystic Pizza with standout roles in Saving Private Ryan, The Departed, the Bourne franchise and Good Will Hunting, for which he won an Academy Award for best original screenplay.
He has a net worth of $170 million, according to wealth tracking website Celebrity Net Worth.
Rory McIlroy has been one of the most outspoken golfers against LIV since the $2 billion project first emerged in 2022. Getty Images
Rory McIlroy
Pro-golfer Rory McIlroy has denied a rumour that he was offered $850 million to join the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf circuit.
London newspaper City AM published a story on April 14 alleging that LIV offered McIlroy $850 million and an equity stake in the league worth about 2 per cent to leave the PGA Tour.
The newspaper cited two separate sources about the possible deal.
However, McIlroy has denied the claim, saying his loyalty remains with the PGA Tour.
“I honestly don’t know how these things get started. I've never been offered a number from LIV, and I've never contemplated going to LIV,” McIlroy told the Golf Channel during a practice round before the RBC Heritage.
“For me, my future is here on the PGA Tour, and it's never been any different.”
The four-time major champion has been one of the most outspoken golfers against LIV since the $2 billion project first emerged in 2022, believing those who left to play for the league shouldn't be allowed back on the PGA Tour.
While McIlroy has eased up on that position, he's still continued to oppose LIV and its events.
LIV is backed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
“I’m sure there’s players who are still playing on the PGA Tour who still talk to the guys from LIV and had offers,” he said.
“It’s never even been a conversation for us. It’s unfortunate that we have to deal with it; this is the state that our game’s in. I’ll play the PGA Tour for the rest of my career.”
The Florida-based Irish golfer has a net worth estimated at $170 million, thanks to tournament wins and endorsements, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan has a net worth of $400 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Reuters
Amitabh Bachchan
Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan has bought a plot of land worth 100 million Indian rupees ($1.2 million) in the coastal town of Alibaug, in the west Indian state of Maharashtra, to build a luxury villa, according to Indian daily Economic Times.
“The actor has bought the land parcel spread over 10,000 square feet from The House of Abhinandan Lodha for over 100 million rupees,” ET said, quoting a source.
The actor, 81, bought the plot in a project called A Alibaug, Indian daily Hindustan Times said.
Earlier, Bachchan had bought land from the same builder in the temple town of Ayodhya.
Alibaug has emerged as a preferred real estate destination for high-net-worth individuals seeking luxury retreats and investment opportunities, according to Indian media reports.
Bachchan is reported to have a net worth of $400 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Over the years, the veteran actor has become involved in a range of business ventures.
In 2013, he purchased a 10 per cent stake in Indian technology company Justdial. Over the years, his initial investment led to significant gains.
He also has a 3.4 per cent stake in cloud computing company Stampede Capital.
His family owns about $250,000 worth of shares in Meridian Tech, a US-based consulting company, Celebrity Net Worth said.
Bachchan has an extensive real estate portfolio with multiple properties in India. He owns five bungalows within the Juhu-Vile Parle Development Scheme of Mumbai.
In 2023, Bachchan and his wife, Jaya Bachchan, gave their Pratiksha bungalow, the first of their five family homes in Juhu, to their 49-year-old daughter Shweta Nanda as a gift, the Hindustan Times reported.
Pratiksha was the first bungalow the couple purchased shortly after the success of his blockbuster Sholay was released in 1975.
One of their bungalows was leased to Citibank for a considerable rental income. Citibank vacated the property in June 2019 after the expiry of the lease, according to the HT.
The same property has now been leased to State Bank of India for 1.89 million rupees a month for 15 years, the daily reported in 2021.
The actor reportedly also owns a number of agricultural land plots in Bhopal, Barabanki and Lucknow.
Bachchan has acted in more than 200 films in a career spanning more than five decades.
Sofia Vergara's personal fortune stands at $180 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Getty Images
Sofia Vergara
Actress Sofia Vergara has finally sold her Beverly Hills, Tuscan-style villa two years after its listing.
The property was listed in June 2022 with a nearly $20 million asking price. The listing price of the 11,000-square-foot Mediterranean manor slashed to $13.7 million, according to the Robb Report.
The Modern Family actress bought the house 10 years ago for $10.6 million and gave the 2006 home a contemporary makeover.
The seven-bedroom property offers 11,369 square feet of living space and has been remodelled by Los Angeles designer Jennifer Bevan, the report said.
Hidden behind walls, gates and a towering hedge, celebrity neighbours include Eddie Murphy, Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg.
Vergara, 51, and her husband, Joe Manganiello, have since invested in a larger property in the area. Their new seven-bedroom, 17,100-square-foot property is in the same Italian villa-style as their previous home and was formerly owned by baseball player Barry Bonds.
The actress acquired the property in 2020 for $26 million, according to Robb Report.
Inside Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello's Beverly Hills mansion – in pictures
The seven-bedroom Tuscan-style villa is located in Beverly Hills 90210. Photo: Sotheby’s International Realty
Manicured lawns encircle the outdoor swimming pool. Photo: Sotheby’s International Realty
The 'Modern Family' actress purchased the Tuscan-style property in 2014 for a reported $10.6 million. EPA
A dramatic spiral staircase leads up to the property's first floor. Photo: Sotheby’s International Realty
Colourful artworks dot the walls. Photo: Sotheby’s International Realty
The monochrome home office. Photo: Sotheby’s International Realty
The property's sumptuous home cinema. Photo: Sotheby’s International Realty
An open-plan chef's kitchen features a marble-topped island and a table for six. Photo: Sotheby’s International Realty
The bar area is decorated in black and white. Photo: Sotheby’s International Realty
High ceilings and a neutral colour palette define the living spaces. Photo: Sotheby’s International Realty
The interiors are light and airy. Photo: Sotheby’s International Realty
Vergara and Mr Manganiello met at a White House Correspondents dinner in 2014, became engaged six months after they began dating and were married in November 2015.
The Colombia-born actress and model – best known for her 11-season run as Gloria on the TV series Modern Family –ranked as the highest-paid television actress for many years.
Today, her net worth is estimated at $180 million.
A substantial part of Vergara's wealth comes from her television work – most notably through Modern Family.
She also earns considerable income through brand endorsements and appearances in commercials. She also earned $10 million a year as a judge on America's Got Talent.
Vergara has a jeans brand that is sold exclusively at Walmart, a line of furniture and several perfumes. In a typical year, Vergara earns $40 million to $50 million from all her business endeavours, Celebrity Net Worth estimates.
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
From exhibitions to the battlefield
In 2016, the Shaded Dome was awarded with the 'De Vernufteling' people's choice award, an annual prize by the Dutch Association of Consulting Engineers and the Royal Netherlands Society of Engineers for the most innovative project by a Dutch engineering firm.
It was assigned by the Dutch Ministry of Defence to modify the Shaded Dome to make it suitable for ballistic protection. Royal HaskoningDHV, one of the companies which designed the dome, is an independent international engineering and project management consultancy, leading the way in sustainable development and innovation.
It is driving positive change through innovation and technology, helping use resources more efficiently.
It aims to minimise the impact on the environment by leading by example in its projects in sustainable development and innovation, to become part of the solution to a more sustainable society now and into the future.
