Google’s Larry Page, Sergey Brin Buying Miami Homes

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have been shopping for luxury homes in Miami, and Page is the mystery buyer who spent more than $100 million on a waterfront estate that sold at the end of the year, The Real Deal has learned.

The two billionaires are among the wealthiest in the world. Page is No. 2 with a net worth of $272 billion, and Sergey Brin is No. 4 with a net worth of $253 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Page is the buyer of the Banyan Ridge in Coconut Grove, sources told TRD. The 4.5-acre waterfront compound at 3585 Anchorage Way traded hands in December for $101.5 million, according to the Multiple Listing Service.

Danny Hertzberg, Jill Hertzberg, Nathan and Judy Zeder of the Jills Zeder Group represented the seller. Danny Hertzberg declined to comment and Jill Hertzberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the Zeders declined to comment.

The seller was the estate of the late Jonathan Lewis, who was a prominent Miami restaurateur and LGBT advocate. It was once asking $135 million.

Page also purchased the 10,400-square-foot, seven-bedroom and eight-bathroom home at 3085 Munroe Drive. The $71.9 million sale, which was recorded earlier this week, is linked to a San Francisco-based wealth manager. The Wall Street Journal reported Page as the buyer late Wednesday. Shaklee Corp. CEO Roger Barnett and his wife, journalist Sloan Barnett sold the house.

Brin arrived in Miami for Art Basel in December via his $450 million megayacht Dragonfly, which has been docked in Biscayne Bay. He was rumored to be the buyer of Banyan Ridge as well, but sources told TRD is eyeing a waterfront home in Miami Beach.

Brin and Page co-founded Google in 1998 when they were students at Stanford University.

The moves are the latest in a wave that appears to be driven by California’s proposed wealth tax. The New York Times reported in December that Page and the head of his family office have told people that Page was looking to leave California and that he had been spending time in Miami. Three LLCs tied to Page were incorporated in Florida last month, records show.

Bespoke Real Estate’s Brett Harris, who was involved in a separate $100 million-plus sale of waterfront land in Coconut Grove before the end of the year, said this latest wave is the 1 percent of the 1 percent.

“One hundred billionaires in California are all on their way to Florida and our phones are ringing off the hook,” he said.

The proposed ballot measure would tax California residents worth more than $1 billion the equivalent of 5 percent of their assets.