Google co-founder Sergey Brin is connected to the purchase of Lake Tahoe’s priciest home, in what appears to be a move to escape California’s proposed “billionaire tax.”
Brin is linked to the recently established Alpine Bay LLC, which quietly bought the waterfront mansion last month for $42 million, according to Bloomberg News. Located just across the California border in Nevada, the property is out of reach of a recently proposed 5% California tax targeting the state’s billionaires.
The tech billionaire reportedly closed on the home, known as Crystal Pointe, on December 5 through Alpine Bay LLC, which was formed only a month earlier. The LLC is registered in Reno, and its listed manager is a San Francisco lawyer who in December also transferred five other California-based LLCs connected to Brin to the same address. Brin’s girlfriend, Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto, has reportedly shared photos of the new home on her private social media.
Crystal Pointe, dubbed the “crown jewel” of Lake Tahoe, had been on the market for eight years, undergoing several major price reductions before Brin purchased it. At one point, it was listed for $75 million, the highest price ever recorded in the area.
The 16,232-square-foot mansion features seven bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a 10-seat theater, a 1,687-bottle wine cellar, and 13 fireplaces. The cliffside property includes 525 feet of lakefront, two boat lifts, a seasonal boat barge, and its own beach house, separate from a guest home and caretaker’s apartment, as well as an oversized four-car garage. Crucially for Brin, the estate sits in Nevada but is less than half a mile from the California border.
Brin and fellow Google co-founder Larry Page have both been taking steps to move out of California in recent months. Page recently purchased two large Miami estates for a combined $188 million. Other billionaires, including Peter Thiel and David Sacks, have also left the Golden State.