No dogs, millionaires, or believers in global warming need apply

Malibu is now exclusively reserved for billionaires.

At its early developmental stages, the Los Angeles beach town of Malibu has always been reserved for the rich and famous.

But in the last few years alone, even millionaires have now been shut out — and the community has become a staple for the ultra-rich only.

Larry Ellison, the tech titan who has invested significantly in the town since nearly three decades ago, started the Malibu trend of sending area property value through the roof.

Combined with a raging coronavirus pandemic, the uncrowded beaches and the relaxed surf-town vibe have sent Malibu home prices soaring — luring in the wealthiest of wealthiest.

In the past year alone, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and his wife, Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, have purchased three separate Malibu estates for a combined $255.5 million.

Rapper Kanye West paid a whopping $57.3 million for a sculptural concrete house designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando.

In 2019, WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum purchased two neighboring compounds in the Paradise Cove area for a total of $187 million.

To be fair, it’s entirely possible that these billionaires do believe in global warming, do believe that their oceanfront homes are doomed to be washed away, and simply don’t care. These houses are usually just a small part of their relationship estate holdings, and if the water rises, they either won’t be there to witness it or they’ll just call up a privet jet and head to another home in Davos, Jackson’s Hole, or Aspen.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Beverly Hills native Andy Stern revealed the changes he has witnessed from when he first moved to the town to raise his young family. 

“There’s less of a sense of local community, because the people aren’t here,” Stern, 69, a two-time Malibu mayor and Coldwell Banker Realty real-estate agent, told The Journal. 

The families that once lived in the neighborhood have largely been replaced by celebrities and billionaires that also include Chicago-born real-estate billionaire Sam Zell, Miami Heat President Pat Riley and Torstein Hagen, the Norwegian billionaire founder of Viking Cruises.

Many of his new neighbors own three to four properties in the area and use these homes as getaways.