David Geffen Dumps Former Courtney Ross Estate In East Hampton

When The Press reported last month that David Geffen had purchased a property on Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton, we wondered if the longtime media mogul was bent on becoming a Hamptons real estate mogul. That appears more likely, as Mr. Geffen has just sold the estate that once belonged to Courtney Ross in East Hampton. The announced price is $67.3 million, which is just over $17 million more than he paid for it two years ago. This may help offset what Mr. Geffen forked over for the Lily Pond estate, which was $70 million.

Reportedly, Mr. Geffen, who among other achievements founded the DreamWorks movie company with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, intended to keep both the Lily Pond property and the 5.5-acre former Ross estate on Georgica Pond. (In the small world of East Hampton department, Courtney Ross is the widow of Steve Ross, who as chairman of Warner Communications was a mentor of Georgica neighbor Mr. Spielberg early in his career, and “Schindler’s List” is dedicated to him.) With a fortune that Forbes Magazine contends is $6.5 billion, Mr. Geffen can afford to do so. Apparently, however, the 7-bedroom, 7,500-square-foot home with a three-bedroom guest house proved too appealing to a buyer and Mr. Geffen agreed to the new transaction.

The Georgica Pond property actually consists of four parcels. The new owner, whose name has not been revealed, reportedly plans to keep the lot with the guest house and sell the other three lots and main house, with an initial ask of $55 million for all three lots.

The Lily Pond property that Mr. Geffen is retaining was once the estate of Josephine Chaus, who had built a line of clothing for professional women into a successful company. During a time when few major companies had a female CEO, Ms. Chaus was a pioneer. Her company at its height of success had 200 employees and annual sales of $300 million. She died of cancer last November, and when her sons put the 2.04-acre oceanfront property on the market, Mr. Geffen scooped it up.

The $70 million purchase price did not top the list of recent Hamptons transactions—for example, it paled in comparison to the $110 million now padding the pockets of hedge fund impresario Scott Bommer for selling three Lily Pond properties earlier this year—and it is a drop in the bucket for what Mr. Geffen has been spending on real estate.

According to Forbes Magazine, “Geffen’s American residences (on land and at sea) are worth some $1.1 billion.” (His “navy” includes the world’s 10th-largest yacht, the 454-foot Rising Sun, which can accommodate 18 people, and a staff of 55, and the amenities include a basketball court.) For many years he had been active on the West Coast, owning properties in Malibu and Beverly Hills. In the latter locale, and again in the small-world department, Mr. Geffen owns an estate built by Jack Warner, co-founder of Warner Brothers, which decades later became Warner Communications under Steve Ross and is now Time Warner. The former Jack Warner manse features another connection to a Josephine—the floor the French emperor Napoleon stood on when he proposed to the future empress.

As the New York Times reported in “The Boy From Brooklyn,” an article published in February, nowadays Mr. Geffen is concentrating on the New York area, ridding himself of most of his California holdings. His main residence is a 20-room penthouse on Fifth Avenue, which he purchased for $54 million, and he has a townhouse on East 73rd Street … but one less property in the Hamptons. For now.