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Rosie Leaves Home
Betsy Schiffman

Who's buying, who's selling in the world of high-end real estate:

Everything's Coming Up Ex-Talkshow Hosts


	Out and about

Rosie O'Donnell has had enough of her television gig, her magazine gig, and now she's apparently had enough of New York. The 40-year-old is selling her Manhattan townhouse on the Upper West Side for $6.9 million, according to The New York Post. O'Donnell will be living fulltime in Rockland County in upstate New York. The Manhattan townhouse that she's selling off is said to be five stories, including five bedrooms, a library, a studio and several terraces.

O'Donnell dropped the ho-hum news Wednesday that she'll no longer back her namesake magazine, Rosie, because she "cannot be assured that it will represent [her] vision and [her] ideas." (Did the artistic vision of The Flinstones and the television show Gimme A Break better represent her?) O'Donnell claims that publisher Gruner + Jahr had gradually been taking away editorial control of the magazine. (See: "Life Looks Less Rosy for Gruner + Jahr.") If she's been thrifty with her money, it may not cause too much financial damage. In both 2001 and 2002, Forbes estimated she earned about $25 million each year.

Greedy Gary Getting Nervous


You Winnick some, you lose some.

Gary Winnick, the founder and chairman of Global Crossing (otc: GBLXQ - news - people ), has become the poster boy for the greed of the 1990s and is currently in the spotlight for questionable accounting practices. The 54-year-old, who sold off his stake in Global Crossing for $600 million before the company filed for bankruptcy in January 2002, is selling off a Malibu home for about $9.8 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. The buyer is Alec Gores, a turn-around specialist who ranks 122nd on the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list with a fortune estimated at $1.6 billion. He and his younger brother Tom Gores, who ranks 131st, have interests in other things that once belonged to Winnick as well: Currently they are said to be interested in buying Global Crossing's assets. (Winnick himself has dropped off the Forbes 400. See: "Dropoffs: Billionaires No More.")

Winnick is hardly homeless. In 2000 he closed on a complex real estate swap valued at more than $95 million, and his home (which he is spending about $30 million on in renovations) is thought to be one of the most expensive single-family homes in America. (See: "When CEOs Can't Make The Mortgage.") The Malibu home he just dumped is a 1930s Cape Cod-style property that sits on an acre lot. It's not just Winnick's excess homes he's getting rid of: The old Beverly Hills headquarters of Global Crossing is also reportedly up for sale, expected to fetch more than $50 million. Although Winnick and his family managed to sell off $600 million worth of his stock, his original stake today would only be worth about a fraction of that. (See also: "Global Crashing.")

Tommy Mottola Gets The Heck Out


	Looking for a real estate hit

The head honcho at Sony Music, Tommy Mottola, has listed his Upper East Side townhouse for a whopping $45 million, according to The New York Post. The property is said to be absurdly extravagant, spanning 20,000 square feet (a hefty size in most parts of the country and especially hefty given the size of most apartments in Manhattan). The master bedroom alone is said to take up an entire floor and is 3,500 square feet, and the living room is basically the size of a ballroom. The home had previously belonged to DreamWorks co-founder David Geffen, who sold it to Mottola for $13 million (chump change compared to the $45 million price tag on it now).

Mottola married Mexican pop star Thalia two years ago, but he first tied the knot with pop sensation Mariah Carey, after "discovering" her at a party. Despite his apparent preference for Latina lovers, Mottola was the subject of a bizarre smear campaign by the non-artist of the millennium, Michael Jackson, who, with Rev. Al Sharpton, claimed Mottola was a racist and was "devlish." (Sharpton later refuted Jackson, saying Mottola had been a good friend for years.)

Real estate news can be submitted to Betsy Schiffman at bschiffman@forbes.net or by calling her at (212) 366-8937.


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