Scott McNealy put a lot into his dream home in Portola Valley. He packed it with a room dedicated to making pizzas, a 110-yard golf course, an indoor gym with a rock-climbing wall and locker room, a tennis pavilion and even a full-size ice-hockey rink.
For all that investment and effort, the billionaire co-founder of Sun Microsystems — an original Silicon Valley heavyweight — thought his property was worth at least $100 million. Now, six years after listing it below that nine-figure sum, his home has sold for $35 million — 65% less.
The deal was filed July 18 with the San Mateo Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder’s office, with the buyer listed as Zenith Path LLC.
According to documents filed with the California secretary of State, the company shares a business address with Youhe Invest, a multi-family business based in New York that is dedicated “exclusively to serving ultra-high net worth entrepreneurs and families” with cross-border investments, according to its website. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
The transaction, which appears to be an off-market sale, was first reported by The Real Deal.
McNealy and his wife, Susan, built the five-bedroom, 7.5-bath mansion on 13 acres at 610 Los Trancos Road in 2008, shortly after he stepped down as CEO of Sun Microsystems. The computer hardware company was swallowed up by Oracle for $7.4 billion in 2010.
The home’s interior spaces add up to more than 21,000 square feet, including a 4,000-square-foot guest house, according to a previous listing, which boasted that the pavilion has a driveway that can “showcase” more than 12 cars.
“Whoever bought this property got a steal, even in the current economy,” said realtor Deepee Chattha, who held the listing in 2020, when she worked for Rex, a real estate listing service and lender where McNealy served as an investor and board member.
Chattha, who now works at Intero, explained that pricing a unique property is challenging due to the lack of comparables.
“The property was anything but subtle, exuding a distinctly masculine ambiance,” she told The Standard. “The initial [$100 million] price tag was based on the economic dynamics at the time, considering the substantial investment in the house, its exceptional features and the spectacular views.”
Unlike more moderately priced homes in the Bay Area — which normally trade for over list price because of the competitive market — luxury homes prices can swing spectacularly depending on issues isolated to the uber wealthy.
“These homes are so special that it’s often hard for sellers and listing agents not to shoot for the moon,” said Patrick Carlisle, chief marketing analyst at Compass, whose agency was not involved in the sale. “After all, it only takes that one hoped-for billionaire to step forward.”
But the rich didn’t get rich by being loose with their money, Carlisle added, so negotiations for homes as grand as 610 Los Trancos Road can be protracted. In McNealy’s case, the mansion was taken on and off the market several times and was last listed publicly in 2022 at $54 million.
“The longer a property is on the market, the lower the value buyers ascribe to it,” Carlisle said. “If it does end up selling, it’s usually for much less than they would have liked, had it been priced more aggressively or realistically to begin with.”
After leaving Sun Microsystems, McNealy tried his hand in running a social media intelligence company while leaning into golf as his son Maverick pursued a career in the sport.
McNealy, 69, previously described himself as a “raging libertarian,” although he has increasingly endorsed the positions of former President Donald Trump.
In 2019, McNealy hosted a fundraiser for Trump’s reelection campaign at his Silicon Valley estate.
A quick scan of his X account, which says he lives in Nevada and loves “taxpayers, capitalism, and personal responsibility,” includes a number of posts criticizing the Democratic Party or what he considers overreach by the federal government.