Johnny Carson’s former Malibu home asks $110M for sale

Like its former owner, this cliffside Malibu estate is made to host.

Late talk-show legend Johnny Carson’s former home is now listed by an e-cigarette investor and his Hard Rock heiress wife, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The expansive estate, chock-full of attractions and perched daringly above the California coastline, asks a cool $110 million. 

Carson purchased the Point Dume property in the 1980s, roughly a decade before his retirement from late-night television. 

The triangle-shaped main house, designed and built around 1980 by modernist architect Edward R. Niles, is filled with conversation pieces, from soaring glass and wood ceilings to mature trees growing indoors. The 4-acre grounds feature spa-like outdoor pools and a decked-out tennis pavilion said to be a gift from NBC. 

The secluded estate is being sold by venture capitalist Riaz Valani, an early investor in Juul e-cigarettes, and Augusta Tigrett, whose father made a fortune co-founding the Hard Rock Cafe. The listing numbers among the largest homes in Point Dume and offers 327 feet of ocean frontage.

Compass broker Chris Cortazzo holds the picturesque listing. 

“Its positioning, its architectural integrity and the location are phenomenal,” Cortazzo said in a statement.

The 7,100-square-foot home centers around an indoor arboretum, with a 30-foot glass ceiling that feeds an array of indoor planter beds and mature trees. A triangular dining room, a large kitchen and a glass-walled office take up the rest of the entry floor. 

The three-story home hosts two bedrooms, with the primary bedroom occupying its own floor. 

The park-like grounds include a waterfall koi pond, multiple aquatic amenities and a security office with its own kitchenette. 

The property’s most impressive addition is the tennis court. Its 2,751-square-foot pavilion — reportedly a gift from NBC to the tennis-loving Carson — is packed with two-bedrooms, a court-side deck for dining and a spa-style locker room.

Valani and Tigrett bought Carson’s former home in 2019 for $40 million. They acquired its four parcels as an investment property and a place for entertaining, Tigrett told the Journal, but they’re selling to focus on other investments in Northern California.

A $110 million sale would be a significant return for the entrepreneurial pair. 

The home sold for $46 million in 2007, two years after Carson’s death, to American businessman Sidney Kimmel, according to the Journal. Kimmel attempted to sell the estate for more than $80 million in 2017, but he ultimately settled for Valani and Rigrett’s $40 million offer.

The dramatically increased price tag comes with a location that today’s money can’t buy, according to Cortazzo. The 1980s main home is situated closer to the bluff than modern permitting would ever allow today.