Billionaires, like birds of a feather, tend to stick together.
Finance bigwig Phillippe Laffont, founder of tech-focused multibillion-dollar hedge fund Coatue, has purchased a three-bedroom apartment at 834 Fifth Avenue, a Rosario Candela-designed building best known for its billionaire contingent.
Laffont paid $24 million for the 15-room spread, $1 million more than its most recent asking price of $23 million, according to public records filed today with the city. The spread was originally listed in October 2011 for $27.5 million with Ann Jeffery and Mary Rutherfurd of Brown Harris Stevens. It underwent several price cuts, first to $25 million in February and then to $23 million in May.
The deal for the duplex residence closed October 12, public records show. The seller was the estate of late concrete mogul Walter Goldstein. The former CEO of Underhill Industries died in 2008.
The building is also home to News Corporation Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, banking giant Charles Schwab and real estate developer and philanthropist Alfred Taubman. Billionaire Robert Bass purchased an apartment there for $34 million last year.
The Brown Harris Stevens sales team was not immediately available for comment. It was not clear who represented Laffont.