RoustamTariko

George Clooney Not Selling His Italian Villa

Filed under: Estates

We can't resist a good real estate rumor and this is a hot one. The Telegraph is just one of the sources reporting that George Clooney is putting Villa Oleander, his home on Lake Como in Italy on the market and that soccer star David Beckham is battling Russian vodka billionaire Roustam Tariko to buy the home. The home is supposedly quietly on the market for around 30 million euros. Clooney bought the home in 2001 for around 7 million euros. After Clooney bought the home, real estate in the prestigious vacation area spiked, the so-called Clooney effect.

The Beckhams borrowed the home last year but it really doesn't look like they'll be moving in. Clooney has released a statement denying the fact that the home is for sale and dashing the rumor that he planned to move to a small island in order to foil paparazzi. In his typical humor the statement says in part: "the story was made up, then picked up and now denied. End of another riveting day of false news."

Tags: david beckham, DavidBeckham, george clooney, GeorgeClooney, lake como, LakeComo, roustam tariko, RoustamTariko, villa oleander, VillaOleander

Blogging from the Luxury Summit: the Recession, the Russian and the Icon

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events

In a world where the economy is an everyday concern, the luxury market is worried. Not overly worried, since as we've seen, the very high-end of the market remains secure but the recession was a factor in every panel held by the Luxury Summit. One of the strongest messages we keep hearing is that today's rich are not yesterday's rich; they are "middle class between the ears (not thinking rich)."

Certainly, we've lost the meaning of luxury but overall luxury is in the eye of the beholder, one man's luxury is another man's necessity. One of the hidden benefits of hard times is that they help to define luxury, for example a $500,000 ski condo is having a hard time selling right now but a $2 million ski condo is an easy sell. What was perhaps most interesting at this conference is watching the juxtaposition between stories of extreme luxury spending, fears of a recession and the theme of the conference: philanthropy. In this second post from the Luxury Summit held by American Express Publishing at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village, CA I will look at some recent statistics regarding the wealthy, see my first real live Russian billionaire and pay homage to the one and only Diane Von Furstenberg.

Tags: american express, diane von furstenberg, DianeVonFurstenberg, expire-images2009-4-15, luxury summit, LuxurySummit, roustam tariko, RoustamTariko

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