Yucaipa Companies Founder Ron Burkle Sells Malibu Home

Billionaire investor and Yucaipa Companies founder Ron Burkle nabbed a tidy markup in the sale of his Malibu beach house, The Real Deal has learned.

Burkle, who is the controlling shareholder and executive chair of Soho House, sold 23708 Malibu Colony Road for nearly $20 million, or $7,992 per square foot.

Beverly Hills Estates’ Branden Williams represented Burkle with the brokerage confirming him as the seller.

Rodeo Realty’s Safir Shamsi brought the buyer and declined comment on his client.

Records in PropertyShark show Burkle bought the beachfront pad through a shell company in 2022, paying $13.5 million for the home.

The purchase price represents a nearly 50 percent jump from what Burkle paid for the 1928-built property that was restored by Tim Gleason. Gleason specializes in architectural preservation projects.

Spanning a little over 2,500 square feet, the home has nearly 38 feet fronting the beach, with a private patio, five bedrooms and five bathrooms.

Burkle’s no stranger to the high-end housing market.

He paid $22 million for Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County’s Santa Ynez Valley. Burkle also surfaced in 2024 when a dispute over the purchase of the Azria Estate came to light.

The Holmby Hills mansion at 10250 West Sunset Boulevard has been on and off the market for years by owner and former BCBGMaxAzria chief creative officer Lubov Azria. It was once listed for as high as $88 million in 2016.

It hit the auction block in the spring of 2024 and Burkle later took Azria to court seeking to close on his $30 million winning bid in a showdown over terms of the deal. The case was ultimately dismissed later that year. The home reemerged last month with a $43.5 million asking price.