Markus Persson, the Swedish billionaire who created Minecraft, has put his Beverly Hills mansion back on the market for $70 million — the exact amount he paid for it in 2014. The 22,300-square-foot estate comes with eight bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, a private nightclub and a $200,000 candy room, among other amenities built for a man who once bragged his biggest problem was loneliness.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Persson's asking price represents a flat 0% increase from what he originally paid for the home, even as the median Los Angeles home value has more than doubled over the past 12 years. The one-acre property overlooks the city and includes an elevator, a movie theater, a swimming pool and a 2,500-bottle wine cellar. Persson bought the house from developer Bruce Makowsky, who is known for building extravagant properties loaded with over-the-top amenities.
A Nightclub and Recording Studio, Courtesy of the Owner
Persson didn't just buy the house — he personalized it. The Los Angeles Times reports he added a recording studio and a private nightclub complete with a DJ booth and bar, turning the Beverly Hills estate into something closer to a personal entertainment compound than a traditional mansion.
Makowsky’s earlier trophy-home project shows how far a headline asking price can sit from a final sale. His 38,000-square-foot Bel-Air spec mansion, dubbed “Billionaire,” entered the market at $250 million, underwent two price cuts and sold for $94 million in 2019. That history is a reminder that elaborate amenities and a spectacular opening price do not guarantee a buyer at the seller’s target. The mansion’s price cuts and eventual sale offer a local precedent for the gap between asking and closing prices.
Listing agent Aaron Kirman, who holds the listing alongside Katia De Los Reyes of Christie's International Real Estate Southern California, Branden Williams and Rayni Williams of the Beverly Hills Estates, said Persson is selling because he no longer spends much time in Los Angeles. Kirman also told the Los Angeles Times that ultra-luxury buyers are typically searching for homes that set them apart and cannot easily be replicated — a pitch tailored to a house built around a candy room and a nightclub.
The Minecraft Fortune Behind the Purchase
Persson founded Mojang Studios in 2009, and the company released Minecraft two years later, a game that has since become the bestselling video game of all time. He sold Mojang to Microsoft for $2.5 billion, the windfall that funded the Beverly Hills buy in the first place.
Minecraft’s scale helps explain how a game that began as Persson’s independent creation became a billion-dollar asset: the game has sold more than 350 million copies, making it the best-selling video game. The figure also puts the Mojang deal in a broader context: Microsoft acquired not just a small studio, but a globally established franchise with extraordinary staying power.
Persson reportedly beat out Jay-Z and Beyoncé for the property; the couple had toured the mansion multiple times in 2014, according to the Los Angeles Times, before settling three years later on an $88 million mansion in Bel-Air. Separately, Business Insider reported that Beyoncé and Jay-Z had previously been interested in buying the home and had reportedly visited the property six times.
How the Sale Could Stack Up Against Bel-Air's Biggest Deal
The listing lands amid a wave of nine-figure trades in Los Angeles' luxury market. Casa Encantada, the storied Bel-Air estate, sold to former PayPal chief executive Peter Thiel for $130 million, per the Los Angeles Times' account of a September sale — though billionaires.africa separately reported the foreclosure-auction purchase as occurring on September 29, and greysq.com described the $130 million sale as closing in July 2026 to an undisclosed buyer. The outlets also diverge on the mansion's size, with greysq.com citing roughly 23,000 square feet on 8.4 acres and billionaires.africa putting the figure at 40,000 square feet across 60 rooms on the same acreage.
Casa Encantada is a striking but imperfect comparison for Persson’s listing: its $130-million price came through a foreclosure auction, not a conventional sale after marketing at that figure. The Bel-Air estate had been offered for $225 million in 2019 and $250 million in 2023, then relisted for $170 million before the auction. The auction followed years of higher asking prices, so its closing price is a caution against treating either a trophy home’s asking price or an auction result as a like-for-like benchmark.
Greysq.com further reported that Casa Encantada had lost 48 percent of its original asking price over several years before that final sale, and that another Beverly Hills-area trophy property, Steve Wynn's Benedict Canyon estate Villa Lulu, sold for $47.75 million in July 2026 through a standard escrow process. If Persson's mansion sells at his $70 million ask, the Los Angeles Times reports it could become Beverly Hills' priciest home sale of the year, with the Casa Encantada deal standing as the second-priciest sale in Los Angeles County.
