The stunning San Francisco home of Bebo founders Michael and Xochi Birch is on the market for an eye-watering $39 million and even comes complete with its own pub and library.
The Birches purchased the 11,600-square-foot manor-style home on a street nicknamed Billionaire’s Row in Pacific Heights for $29 million in 2008, after selling their social-networking site Bebo to AOL for $850 million.
If the property sells for its asking price, it would match the record for the most expensive home ever sold in San Francisco. The $39 million record was set last year following the sale of a nearby home by venture capitalist Matt Cohler.
The multi-story property is set high above San Francisco city and the bay and it offers sights across the Golden Gate Bridge to Oakland Hills.
The stunning San Francisco home, (pictured), of Bebo founders Michael and Xochi Birch is on the market for an eye-watering $39 million and even comes complete with its own pub and library
Guests at the stunning pile are greeted with a dramatic double staircase which has zebra-print carpeting and an eclectic gallery of 18th-century portraits mixed with contemporary art
If the property sells for its asking price, it would match the record for the most expensive home ever sold in San Francisco
The exterior of 2799 Broadway is made from concrete and is a sight to behold, according to a listing for the property. Stepping inside, guests walk into a hallway adorned with portraits and featuring marble floors and aged cast-stone walls.
Guests at the stunning pile are greeted with a dramatic double staircase which has zebra-print carpeting and an eclectic gallery of 18th-century portraits mixed with contemporary art.
It also features a study which has a British Union Jack mosaic emblazoned in the fireplace courtesy of Xochi Birch, who is British.
The home also has a pub with an antique bar reclaimed from a decommissioned British tavern. More recently, the couple brought in designer Eric Cohler to refurbish the kitchen and install a family room with a more playful theme.
The top floor is where bedrooms can be found, including a master suite with working fireplace and walkout terrace, which, naturally, includes a spa overlooking San Francisco bay.
Husband-and-wife team Michael and Xochi Birch netted some $600 million from the sale of Bebo but the business crumbled shortly after the acquisition thanks to AOL’s mismanagement and the rise of Facebook
The multi-storey property is set high above San Francisco city and the bay and it offers sights across the Golden Gate Bridge
The top floor is where bedrooms can be found, including a master suite with working fireplace and walkout terrace, which includes a spa overlooking San Francisco bay
The master suite has a walkout terrace with views spanning the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and Angel Island
A stunning library can be found on one of the floors. The property also has a guest suite with quilted leather walls, a wine cellar and a four-car garage.
The fourth floor living area is embellished with cerulean walls of burnished enamel and has a total of 14 French doors. The master suite has a walkout terrace with views spanning the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and Angel Island.
The couple is selling because they are relocating to the British Virgin Islands, Deborah Svoboda of Sotheby’s International Realty told The Wall Street Journal.
‘It’s rare to find new construction on the Gold Coast,’ Svoboda told Forbes. ‘Most of the sales over $30 million there have been older homes that have required major, multi-multi-million-dollar renovations and significant structural engineering.’
The mansion also comes complete with a wine cellar and was built in 2004, with ultra-minimalist aesthetics
The exterior of 2799 Broadway was engineered with concrete and is both refined and whimsical. Stepping inside, guests walk into a hallway adorned with portraits and featuring marble floors and aged cast-stone walls
The couple brought in designer Eric Cohler to refurbish the kitchen and install a family room with a more playful theme
She added: ‘Location, location, location. It occupies a prominent corner at the crest of the Gold Coast.’
Husband-and-wife team Michael and Xochi Birch netted some $600 million from the sale of Bebo but the business crumbled shortly after the acquisition thanks to AOL’s mismanagement and the rise of Facebook.
The couple, who have three children together, celebrated the stellar 2008 sale by splashing their cash and buying the mansion in Pacific Heights for $29 million.
After they sold Bebo, Birch started a private members club in San Francisco called The Battery.
The exclusive joint’s website boasts: ‘The Battery is designed to engage and stimulate forward-thinking minds in the arts, technology and other thriving industries.
Michael Birch’s last-known purchase was of a 17th Century Grade II listed pub in Devon which opened in January.
The $39 million record for properties sold in the area was set last year following the sale of a nearby home by venture capitalist Matt Cohler
The main living area is clad in cerulean walls of burnished enamel and has a total of 14 French doors
The couple, who have three children together, celebrated the stellar 2008 sale by splashing their cash and buying the mansion in Pacific Heights for $29 million
Earlier this year it was reported that the Birches were moving to a little-known sun-kissed island called Moskito
Patrick Carlisle, an analyst at Compass, told The Wall Street Journal that there were 16 sales in San Francisco priced at $5 million or more in the third quarter of the year
Patrick Carlisle, an analyst at Compass, told The Wall Street Journal that there were 16 sales in San Francisco priced at $5 million or more in the third quarter of the year.
The number compares to 12 properties sold during the same period last year. Carlisle indicated that demand may have been spurred on by a series of initial public offerings in the locale.
However he explained that growth in median home-sale prices has slowed in recent months.
Earlier this year it was reported that the Birches were set to join other high profile tech billionaires by moving to a little-known sun-kissed island called Moskito in the Carribean.
Richard Branson, who splashed out £10million for the isle in 2007, is spearheading an overhaul of the once undeveloped anchorage point by erecting luxury mansions that are being snapped up by the next generation of moguls.
Moskito, which stretches for 125-acres and is located off the British Virgin Islands, has seen building works begin on 10 plots of land which will house the super-wealthy, according to the Sunday Times.
The Birches new Moskito home will neighbour the glamorous estate bought by InfoSpace founder Naveen Jain.
The £80million software mogul currently lives in Seattle with his wife and three children, but has described his new £36million Caribbean retreat as ‘a simple cabin’.
Along with Branson, Birch and Jain will be joined on Moskito by seven other undisclosed business giants who have stumped up enormous amounts of money for one of the 10 plots.