Tech CEO, New York Times Reporter Paid $51 Million for Ryan Seacrest’s LA Estate

Who says the luxury real estate market is in the doldrums? Not Florida residents Brian Long, CEO of $6 billion tech startup Attentive Mobile, and his longtime wife Liz Day, a veteran New York Times journalist and Emmy-winning reporter behind “Framing Britney Spears,” the buyers who recently paid $51 million for Ryan Seacrest’s huge Beverly Hills estate — adding to their small but growing stable of trophy homes.

While still a massive sum by any standard, it’s worth noting the $51 million wasn’t anywhere near what Seacrest originally wanted. First listed way back in 2020 at an eye-popping $85 million, the compound’s asking price was slashed all the way down to $59 million before the Long-Days came calling with their lowball, all-cash offer.

The listing calls the 3-acre property “one of Beverly Hills’ most private and secluded estates,” and it’s also one of the most celebrity-pedigreed. Completed in 1963 and remodeled that same year by noted architecture firm Buff & Hensman, the single-story main house was reportedly built for actor Laurence Harvey. In the 1980s, it was owned by actress Joan Collins; by the early 2000s, it had passed into the hands of “Will & Grace” creator Max Mutchnick, who sold the place in 2007 to Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi.

Astute celebrity fanatics may recall that DeGeneres and de Rossi were married at this compound in 2008, the year same-sex marriage became legal in California. During her ownership, DeGeneres remodeled the main house and substantially expanded the estate via buying up and demolishing neighboring homes. Today, the hilltop complex sits on its own private street and includes two detached guesthouses, an underground garage, separate gym building and a security/camera office for a live-in bodyguard.

In 2012, DeGeneres and de Rossi sold the property for $36.5 million to Seacrest, who subsequently undertook an extensive customization of the premises to suit his decidedly bespoke taste.

Today, carefully hidden from public view behind gates and some of the tallest hedges in Beverly Hills, the Long-Day estate is now less of a house than it is a private resort, complete with just about every imaginable amenity. A long gated driveway winds up past the house to a substantial motorcourt, where guests will be awed by the big koi pond, fragrant gardens and manicured pathways that lace the property. The 9,000-square-foot main house includes four bedrooms and six baths, plus a media room and open kitchen servicing multiple dining areas and al fresco patios.

Other highlights include city and ocean views, sprawling lawns shaded by mature sycamore trees, a massage room, infinity pool, and a downright hedonistic master suite with an apartment-sized walk-in closet and skylit shower. But perhaps the most bonkers amenity is the underground garage, which is accessed via its own separately gated driveway and is located directly under the swimming pool, an engineering marvel that likely took a small fortune to install.