George Ruan set a new exit record in L.A. in early 2020 when Paypal ponied up $4 billion for his virtual invention: the Honey couponing app. A flurry of residential purchases in Southern California followed in short order.

The shopping spree includes this house, an ambitious build on an acre-plus hillside lot in Bel-Air, which Ruan picked up in an unfinished state for $60 million in the spring of 2020. He also gobbled up a neighboring property for $18 million. At the time, one might’ve assumed that Ruan, having seen his ship come into harbor, had shelled out heavy for a trophy of arrival which would become his primary residence.

Instead, Ruan invested in finishing the modern manor, and put it up for sale this summer. The house hit the market with a nearly tectonic wallop; it is tagged at $150 million. Certainly not the priciest ask to ever saddle a SoCal mansion, but certainly in the running.

As it now stands, the house is something of a beautiful curiosity. In back, the privacy screens for the balconies draw the eye; from the front, the house boasts an extended recessed entry that’s flanked by a slatted partial on one side and a water feature on the other. A pivoting door is the transition point, beyond which the interiors progress as a warm and extremely atmospheric series of abstractions.

The living style is unadorned to the point of coming off as Spartan…if high-dollar Spartan. The master bedroom as staged for sale is suitably relaxing; the cavernous space is a soothing exercise in zen philosophy, and opens via a long corner wall of optional glass to a balcony overlooking an L.A. panorama that dwarfs the individual.

The gated property terminates streetside with a concrete privacy wall, and a lengthy infinity-edge pool in the rear which extends out over the hillside and, during an evening swim, gives the illusion of merging with the L.A. cityscape.