Although the deal went down way back in May, it’s only now emerged that the mystery buyers who dropped a whopping $45 million on the Beverly Hills home of Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi were high-flying venture capitalist Mood Rowghani and his wife Tara Dhingra, a former top Uber employee and close associate of Uber cofounder Travis Kalanick. While that sales price is significantly under the $53.5 million the couple had originally sought for the celeb-pedigreed home, it’s still comfortably over the $42.5 million they paid for the place only about two years ago, back in May 2019.
Rowghani, born in Iran but raised in Texas and long based in Northern California’s Silicon Valley, co-led the $1 billion Digital Growth fund at venture capital juggernaut Kleiner Perkins before leaving to co-found the multibillion-dollar growth firm Bond. While at Kleiner Perkins, Rowghani led the firm’s early lucrative investments in Uber, Stripe, Waze, MyFitnessPal and a variety of other highly-valued tech companies, generating huge profits for his outfit. He’s also the younger brother of veteran tech tycoon Ali Rowghani, Twitter’s former CFO and COO.
Public corporation records reveal Dhingra is still the current principal at Travis Kalanick’s billion-dollar family office, and previously worked in “Special Projects” at Uber before leaving the company, according to reports.
And the past year has been yet another real estate whirlwind DeGeneres and de Rossi, who recently bought another 90210 home, sold their $55 million Montecito estate and immediately bought two other Montecito houses. Plus they paid $14.3 million to buy back a historic Montecito ranch previously owned by the couple from 2017-2018.
As for the sprawling Dhingra-Rowghani Beverly Hills estate, the 1933 English Tudor-style mansion was an early design of noted architect John Byers, sits on more than an acre of grounds, and flaunts a high-profile string of noteworthy past owners, particularly in recent years. During the early and mid-aughts, the place was owned by tennis legend Pete Sampras, who sold it for nearly $17 million in 2008 to “Will & Grace” creator Max Mutchnick and his husband, attorney Erik Hyman. The property was subsequently renovated and photographed for Elle Décor before it was sold in 2018 to Maroon 5’s Adam Levine and his wife Behati Prinsloo, in an off-market deal valued at nearly $34 million. Levine quickly flipped the house to DeGeneres and de Rossi, who themselves only owned the property a short while.
Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency held the listing; Bob Safai and Brian Lane of Madison Residential repped the buyers.
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Image Credit: Zillow As she is wont to do, DeGeneres gave the place a thorough renovation during her stay. The fully modernized interiors now include a blindingly white foyer with dark brown, chevron-patterned hardwood floors.
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Image Credit: Zillow There’s also a vast living room that stretches nearly 60 feet long, and also boasts white walls and neutral furnishings as a backdrop for a world-class contemporary art collectiion. An elegantly simple fireplace and oversized steelcase windows allow for plenty of warmth and natural light.
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Image Credit: Zillow Unusually, the home’s dining hall features no grand chandelier — rather, there’s only a minimalist set of ceiling lights. An adjoining libary has a copper-encased fireplace that nicely contrasts with the deep charcoal paneled walls.
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Image Credit: Zillow The all-new kitchen goes fully contemporary with rigidly squared-off countertops, plus bespoke cabinetry and top-of-the-line stainless appliances.
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Image Credit: Zillow The family room connects to a sunroom/lounge with walls of windows and glassy doors, all of them overlooking the property’s lush grounds.
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Image Credit: Zillow Behind the kitchen, a discreet entrance leads to the staff quarters and garage area, where there’s a second catering kitchen, this one far more utilitarian and no-nonsense than the main house kitchen.
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Image Credit: Zillow Down on the partially subterranean lower level, there’s a giant movie theater with monolithic gunmetal gray walls, plus acoustic walls expensively engineered to be soundproof.
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Image Credit: Zillow There are five bedrooms and a reputed nine bathrooms in the 10,300-square-foot manse; the upstairs master suite is ensconced in its own wing and upgraded with dual lavish dressing rooms and a bathroom worthy of a five-star resort.
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Image Credit: Zillow Out back, a stone terrace includes a firepit and tree-shaded outdoor kitchen and al fresco dining area. Those mature trees provide privacy, as does the walled and double-gated motorcourt out front. A state-of-the-art security system protects occupants, too.
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Image Credit: Zillow A lower terrace ringed by picturesque evergreen trees sports a big lounging patio and an oval swimming pool — the ultimate Old Hollywood touch.
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Image Credit: Zillow There’s also a full-size championship tennis court with a viewing pavilion. Beyond, the forest-like grounds include manicured gardens and hidden seating areas for quiet moments of reflection.
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