Peter Thiel Identified as Buyer of $130 Million Bel Air Estate

Tech billionaire Peter Thiel has been identified as the buyer of a historic Bel Air estate that sold for $130 million earlier this year, ending months of speculation over who was behind the record-setting purchase.

The property, known as Casa Encantada, was built in 1938 and once belonged to hotelier Conrad Hilton. It changed hands in July through an open-air foreclosure auction held in Pomona, California, with the identity of the winning bidder withheld at the time.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, which first identified the buyer, the winning bid was placed through a limited liability company with ties to Thiel. The venture capitalist, who co-founded PayPal and the data-analytics firm Palantir, has built a reputation for structuring major personal purchases through shell entities that shield his name from public records.

A storied property

Casa Encantada has long been considered one of the more significant estates in Bel Air, both for its age and its past ownership. Its sale at foreclosure, rather than through a conventional listing, drew attention in real estate circles given the scale of the winning bid.

Neither Thiel nor representatives for the LLC linked to him have publicly commented on the purchase. The Wall Street Journal's report did not disclose further details of Thiel's plans for the property.

The sale underscores the continued strength of the ultra-luxury end of the Los Angeles real estate market, even as transactions involving the property were obscured from public view for several months after the auction closed.