Meet Fashion Nova's billionaire owner, who just bought the biggest modern home in the US for $126 million

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Even celebrities and ultrawealthy homeowners can face challenges selling their homes.</li><li>Take the socialite Sonja Morgan — the starting bid for her NYC home is a fraction of its purchase price.</li></ul><p>The world of luxury real estate may seem like a place where deals are plentiful, transactions are swift, and satisfaction is guaranteed.</p><p>But that isn't always true, especially in New York City, where a slowdown in demand has made selling multimillion-dollar condos and townhouses more challenging, as Kenny Lee, a senior economist at <a target="_blank" href="https://streeteasy.com/blog/buyers-will-see-more-opportunities-as-affordability-improves/">StreetEasy</a>, told Business Insider.</p><p>In many of NYC's upscale neighborhoods, homes are lingering on the market longer and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/luxury-home-sales-in-manhattan-fell-during-the-first-quarter-as-prices-continued-to-tick-up-551c5d6e">sales are falling</a>, signaling that when it comes to a slump in the real-estate market — not even the nation's wealthiest Americans can walk away unscathed.</p><p>Consider the case of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/luann-de-lesseps-sonja-morgan-rhony-legacy-response-spinoff-crappie-lake-2023-7">Sonja Morgan</a>, the ex-wife of John Adams Morgan, a great-grandson of the founder of J.P. Morgan &amp; Co. Despite Morgan's socialite status and her home's location on the posh Upper East Side, she's struggled to sell the five-story, six-bathroom brownstone.</p><p>Morgan, a star of Bravo's "Real Housewives of New York," has owned the home at 162 E. 63rd St. for 27 years, living there on and off. Since around 2008, she has made numerous attempts to sell it but has failed to attract any serious buyers.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.curbed.com/article/sonja-morgan-real-housewife-townhouse-auction.html">Curbed</a>'s Bridget Read wrote that now, after years of listing and delisting the property, Morgan had opted to auction it with a starting bid of $1.75 million, far below its reported purchase price of $9.1 million in 1997.</p><p>"I want to be free to garden and travel and not have to worry about the house — but I'm not taking nothing," Morgan told Curbed.</p><p>Bidding opened with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.conciergeauctions.com/auctions/162-east-63rd-street-new-york-new-york">Concierge Auctions</a><strong> </strong>on May 16 and is set to remain open until May 29. As of May 24, the highest bid was $4.25 million.</p><h2 id="22e0385d-c59a-4947-95fe-3ce2e3577ae4">Even the ultrawealthy lose in the game of real estate</h2><p>Luxury-real-estate shows, such as "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kirsten-jordan-million-dollar-listing-new-york-broker-schedule-2021-10">Million Dollar Listing</a>" and "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/get-job-with-mauricio-umansky-at-best-selling-the-agency-2022-6">Buying Beverly Hills</a>," often portray the selling of high-end homes as effortless. But even with an elite ZIP code and the pedigree of a famous or rich seller, sealing the deal can still prove difficult. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sportbible.com/nba/michael-jordan-nba-basketball-mansion-listed-sale-336778-20240201">Michael Jordan</a>, for example, has been unable to sell his mansion outside Chicago for more than 11 years.</p><p>There's also the 105,000-square-foot <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-225-million-mansion-the-one-biggest-modern-home-us-2021-9#the-property-which-was-10-years-in-the-making-came-from-film-producer-turned-real-estate-developer-nile-niami-5">mega-mansion in Los Angeles</a> developed by the former film producer Nile Niami. Following 10 years of construction, the home languished on the market without attracting a buyer. It was later placed into court-ordered receivership and subsequently entered bankruptcy proceedings. Finally, it was auctioned off for $126 million to the billionaire CEO of Fashion Nova, <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fashion-nova-richard-saghianbillionaire-biggest-modern-home-one-2022-3"><u>Richard Saghian</u></a>, in 2022.</p><p>The crux of the issue is that the more expensive a home is, the fewer potential buyers it has — it's a troublesome scenario amid <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/home-prices-decline-in-texas-housing-market-shifts-favors-buyers-2024-5">slowing buyer demand</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-cost-of-living-what-is-middle-class-housing-market-2024-4">growing economic uncertainty</a>. The lack of demand from traditional buyers has led to an increasing number of ultrawealthy homeowners, including the entrepreneur <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-11/los-angeles-mansion-owners-test-150-000-rents-as-sales-slump">Rob DeSantis</a>, renting out their homes or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-16/why-do-wealthy-people-auction-multimillion-dollar-homes-rather-than-list-them">auctioning them off</a> rather than waiting around for buyers.</p><p>"A lot of luxury buyers may already have a primary home, so maybe they're looking for a new investment," StreetEasy's Lee said. "For that reason, even though they are generally less affected by high mortgage rates, they are heavily influenced by the general economic outlook."</p><p>He said that was partly why more luxury buyers were increasingly considering renting out their homes rather than selling them.</p><h2 id="c490f200-60d3-4b6c-9908-890502c4562d">Custom features added by sellers and maintenance costs can also put off buyers</h2><p>One person's dream renovation could be the next person's nightmare.</p><p>Lee pointed out another obstacle for luxury homeowners: their inclination to elaborately customize their homes with features that may or may not be appealing to the average buyer.</p><p>"A lot of houses and apartments in New York City were built before the war," Lee said. "It's also for that reason, it's common for a lot of owners to go through renovations, to make it more livable and more to their own taste."</p><p>In addition to a koi pond in the garden, the Morgans also installed a large nautical star in the entryway on the ground floor during a $3 million renovation, Curbed reported.</p><div type="image" title="The entry way of Sonja Morgan's Upper Eastside brownstone." height="1367" width="2048" msid="110505086" hostid="261"></div><p>Lee said another factor contributing to the difficulty of selling luxury properties was the high costs associated with their maintenance and upkeep.</p><p>Morgan's townhouse carries estimated monthly property taxes of $6,003, according to the <a target="_blank" href="https://streeteasy.com/building/162-east-63-street-new_york/th?showcase=1">StreetEasy listing</a>. This figure doesn't include additional expenses that come with owning a townhouse such as insurance, repairs, upgrades, landscaping, and more.</p><p>Morgan told Curbed she was ready to be rid of it all.</p><p>"I don't want anyone to think, 'New York is done, and that's why she's leaving,'" Morgan said. "I'll always be a New Yorker. I just don't need all this."</p><p><em>Correction: May 28, 2024 — Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this story misidentified the entrepreneur Rob DeSantis as Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. Also because of an editing error, a photo caption in the story misstated the starting bid of Sonja Morgan's home. It was $1.75 million, not $1.75.</em></p>

Some wealthy people trying to sell their luxury homes are struggling

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Fashion Nova founder Richard Saghian is now a resident of Malibu's exclusive Billionaire's Beach.</li><li>Saghian paid $40 million in an all-cash deal for the Malibu beachfront home.</li></ul><p>Fashion Nova founder Richard Saghian reportedly paid all cash for a $40 million Malibu home, establishing himself as the newest resident of the exclusive area known as "Billionaire's Beach"</p><p>The 6,000-square-foot beachfront property is located on Malibu's Carbon Beach and boasts six bedrooms and seven bathrooms, <a href="https://therealdeal.com/la/2023/01/05/fashion-nova-owner-buys-billionaires-beach-home-for-40m/">according to The Real Deal</a>. </p><p>The property, which was previously owned by a health care mogul, encompasses 70 feet of beach frontage along with the third-0f-an-acre property. </p><p>Saghian's Malibu home comes on the heels of his March 2022 purchase of "The One," a 105,000-square-foot megamansion located in the affluent Los Angeles neighborhood of Bel-Air, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fashion-nova-richard-saghianbillionaire-biggest-modern-home-one-2022-3">Insider's Áine Cain reported</a>. The property, which sold for $126 million, is the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2021/09/29/largest-us-house-sale-la-mansion-listed-millions/5912837001/">largest modern home in the US.</a></p><p>According to the listed addresses for both properties, Saghian's new home is just a 20-minute drive from his megamansion in Bel-Air.</p><p>"There is nothing else like it," Saghian said in reference to "The One" in a statement to Insider in March. "As a lifelong Angeleno and avid collector of real estate, I recognized this as a rare opportunity that also lets me own a unique property that is destined to be a part of Los Angeles history." </p><p>The fashion executive secured his new Malibu home for $20 million less than its June asking price of $69 million, according to The Real Deal. The <a href="https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/22446-Pacific-Coast-Hwy-Malibu-CA-90265/20552471_zpid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listing was lowered to $59 million in September, then $49 million in December</a>, per Zillow. </p><p>The previous owner, nursing home mogul Lee Samson, bought the property for $22 million in 2015 and worked with architect Richard Landry to redesign the modern home, which was originally built in 1976, the Zillow listing says.</p>

Fashion Nova founder joins 'Billionaire's Beach' with all-cash purchase of $40 million Malibu property — a 20-minute drive from his $126 million Bel-Air mega-mansion

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c5dea2f74c5873ccc49f32b-1495/orange%20vanilla%20coke%20%20orange%20vanilla%20coke%20zero%20sugar%20-%20hero%20image.jpg" border="0" alt="missguided" data-mce-source="Missguided / Kim Kardashian West / Instagram" data-link="https://www.instagram.com/p/Btn7Tm6nEof/"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Btn7Tm6nEof/">Missguided / Kim Kardashian West / Instagram</a></span></p><p class="caption">Kim Kardashian West's photo (left) was posted to Instagram just a few hours before Missguided's knockoff (right).</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>&#xa0;</p><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/kim-kardashian">Kim Kardashian West</a> posted a photo of herself in a golden outfit on Friday with the caption: "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/fast-fashion">fast fashion brands,</a> can you please wait until I wear this in real life before you knock it off?"</li><li>Less than three hours later, fast-fashion brand <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/missguided">Missguided</a> posted a knockoff of the outfit on Instagram, alongside a photo of Kardashian West's photo. The post has since been deleted.&#xa0;</li><li>The incident reveals just how fast turnaround is in the fast-fashion industry in 2019.&#xa0;</li></ul><p>Kim Kardashian West had one request when she shared a photo of herself on Friday.&#xa0;</p><p>"Going through old fitting pics &amp; found this gold look that Kanye made for me for my Miami trip last summer (I went w the neon vibes instead)," Kardashian West captioned a photo of herself in a golden outfit on Instagram.&#xa0;</p><p>"P.S. fast fashion brands, can you please wait until I wear this in real life before you knock it off?" she continued, adding a laughing-crying emoji.&#xa0;</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p>Kardashian West posted her Instagram at around 10 a.m. ET.&#xa0;</p><p>By noon ET, fast-fashion brand Missguided had a response - a design that is a direct knockoff of the outfit.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c5defed1631a34c0b24d1bc-1042/screenshot2019-02-08at33841pm.jpg" border="0" alt="misguided kim kardashian west" data-mce-source="Missguided / Instagram"><p class="source"><span>Missguided / Instagram</span></p><p class="caption">A screenshot of Missguided's post.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>One image was the one that Kardashian West had posted mere hours earlier; the second was a model wearing a similar golden outfit.&#xa0;</p><p>"The devil works hard but Missguided works harder," Missguided captioned the photos.</p><p>Just before 4 p.m. ET, Missguided's post was deleted. The fast-fashion brand did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.&#xa0;</p><p>The incident perfectly encapsulates the fast-fashion industry's race to transform inspiration - whether it be celebrities like Kardashian West or runway designs - into inexpensive reality.</p><p>Fashion does not have the same level of protection as things like art, literature, and film, allowing fast-fashion brands like Zara and Forever 21 to quickly churn out less expensive copycats.&#xa0;</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zara-forever-21-fast-fashion-full-of-copycats-2018-3"> Zara and Forever 21 have a dirty little secret</a></em></p><p>E-commerce-centric brands like Missguided and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fashion-nova-favorite-brand-of-the-internet-teens-2018-10">Fashion Nova</a> are accelerating the process even more, releasing new products within hours of drawing inspiration from Instagram and celebrities.&#xa0;</p><p>Fashion Nova, for example, releases more than 1,000 new clothing items every week. CEO Richard Saghian<span>&#xa0;</span><a href="https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/inside-fashion-nova-cardi-b-1202595964/">told WWD</a><span>&#xa0;that it takes the company just 48 hours to design and manufacture a product.</span></p><p class="tagline"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/future-of-retail-ai?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=ecommerce_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=ecommerce_ctgr_leadgen_future-of-retail-ai"><img src="https://static.businessinsider.com/image/5bd9f37e5f1f7538f668523b" alt="Exclusive FREE Slide Deck: Future of Retail:AI by Business Insider Intelligence" border="0" style="width: 100% !important" /></a></p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/Btn7Tm6nEof/embed/" width="540" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rose-gold-watch-zodiac-calendar-jaeger-lecoultre-2019-1">Why this rose gold watch costs $400,000</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/637KZ5rQ-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Kim Kardashian asked fast-fashion brands not to knock off her outfit, but one was promoting its rip-off in a now-deleted Instagram post less than 3 hours later

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c6c3e32598e23402c4a52a2-2400/gettyimages-1125623327.jpg" border="0" alt="kim kardashian" data-mce-source="Hollywood To You/Star Max/GC Images"><p class="source"><span>Hollywood To You/Star Max/GC Images</span></p><p class="caption">Kim Kardashian West in a vintage gown soon to be replicated by Fashion Nova.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/fashion-nova">Fast-fashion brand Fashion Nova</a> posted an Instagram on Monday advertising a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kim-kardashian-vintage-thierry-mugler-cutout-dress-2019-2">knock-off of a Thierry Mugler dress</a> worn by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/kim-kardashian">Kim Kardashian West</a> less than 24 hours prior.&#xa0;</li><li>The post fueled a conspiracy that Kardashian West works with fast-fashion brands to produce copies of vintage outfits.&#xa0;</li><li>Kardashian West shot down the conspiracy on Twitter on Tuesday.&#xa0;</li></ul><p>Kim Kardashian West took to Twitter to shoot down a fast-fashion conspiracy theory on Tuesday.&#xa0;</p><p>On Sunday, Kardashian West <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kim-kardashian-vintage-thierry-mugler-cutout-dress-2019-2">wore a vintage gown from Thierry Mugler's Spring/Summer '98 collection </a>to the 5th Annual Hollywood Beauty Awards. And, as is often the case with Kardashian West's outfits, it did not take long for knock-offs to appear on fast-fashion brands' websites.&#xa0;</p><p>On Monday, Fashion Nova launched advertising for a very similar dress, under the name "Winning Beauty Cut Out Gown."&#xa0;</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p>However, according to @DietPrada - an Instagram dedicated to calling out fashion references and knock offs - a model posted a photo of herself wearing the dress even before Fashion Nova announced the dress's launch. The photo posted by Fashion Nova model Yodit Yemane appears to show her wearing the gown in a file labeled "Kim Dress" with the date 02-14-19 - days before Kardashian West was spotted in the original vintage gown.</p><p>"This begs the question: Did Fashion Nova whip up the dress overnight in their Los Angeles atelier after seeing Kim in it or is she peddling her vintage finds to mass retailers ahead of debuting them for a calculated, timely release?" @DietPrada posted.&#xa0;</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p>On Tuesday, Kardashian West took to <a href="https://twitter.com/KimKardashian">Twitter</a> to shoot down the theory that she may have told Fashion Nova about her plans to wear the dress prior to her public debut on Sunday evening.&#xa0;&#xa0;</p><p>"Only two days ago, I was privileged enough to wear a one-of-a-kind vintage Mugler dress and in less than 24 hours it was knocked off and thrown up on a site - but it's not for sale," Kardashian West tweeted. "You have to sign up for a waitlist because the dress hasn't even been made to sell yet."&#xa0;</p><p>"This is a way to get people to sign up for their mailing list and make people believe there is some kind of relationship between me and this fashion site. There is not," Kardashian West continued in a follow-up tweet.&#xa0;</p><p>In a final tweet, Kardashian West said: "So, as always, don't believe everything you read and see online. I don't have any relationships with these sites. I'm not leaking my looks to anyone, and I don't support what these companies are doing."&#xa0;</p><p>Fashion Nova did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.&#xa0;</p><p>This isn't the first time that Kardashian West has tangled with fast-fashion brands in recent weeks. Earlier in February, she posted a photo of herself in a golden outfit with the caption: "fast fashion brands, can you please wait until I wear this in real life before you knock it off?"&#xa0;</p><p>In less than three hours, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kim-kardashian-knocked-off-by-missguided-2019-2">fast-fashion brand Missguided had posted a now-deleted Instagram photo</a> of a design that appeared to be a direct knockoff of the outfit.</p><p>"The devil works hard but Missguided works harder," Missguided captioned the photos.</p><p>Fashion does not have the same level of protection as things such as art, literature, and film, Christiane Campbell, a partner at the Duane Morris law firm, previously told Business Insider. This allows fast-fashion brands such as<span>&#xa0;</span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zara-forever-21-fast-fashion-full-of-copycats-2018-3">Fashion Nova, Zara, and Forever 21</a><span>&#xa0;</span>to quickly churn out similar, less-expensive items.</p><p><span>Fashion Nova releases more than 1,000 new clothing items every week. CEO Richard Saghian&#xa0;</span><a href="https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/inside-fashion-nova-cardi-b-1202595964/">told WWD</a><span>&#xa0;that it takes the company just 48 hours to design and manufacture a product.</span></p><p class="tagline"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/future-of-retail-ai?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=ecommerce_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=ecommerce_ctgr_leadgen_future-of-retail-ai"><img src="https://static.businessinsider.com/image/5bd9f37e5f1f7538f668523b" alt="Exclusive FREE Slide Deck: Future of Retail:AI by Business Insider Intelligence" border="0" style="width: 100% !important" /></a></p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BuC6FOMA1Xc/embed/" width="540" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BuDB6RxlPab/embed/" width="540" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>So, as always, don't believe everything you read and see online. I don't have any relationships with these sites. I'm not leaking my looks to anyone, and I don't support what these companies are doing.</p>- Kim Kardashian West  (@KimKardashian) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1097904082335854592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2019</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/super-bowl-commercials-cardi-b-jeff-bridges-sarah-jessica-parker-2019-1">Watch the 7 best Super Bowl commercials so far</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/A9GF1pO2-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

You Searched For "richard saghian" and got 5 results

Meet Fashion Nova's billionaire owner, who just bought the biggest modern home in the US for $126 million

Áine Cain

Some wealthy people trying to sell their luxury homes are struggling

Alcynna Lloyd

Fashion Nova founder joins 'Billionaire's Beach' with all-cash purchase of $40 million Malibu property — a 20-minute drive from his $126 million Bel-Air mega-mansion

Jordan Hart

Kim Kardashian asked fast-fashion brands not to knock off her outfit, but one was promoting its rip-off in a now-deleted Instagram post less than 3 hours later

Kate Taylor

Kim Kardashian shoots down a conspiracy that she is in cahoots with Fashion Nova after the fast-fashion brand debuted a knock-off of her vintage gown

Kate Taylor