Fire sale! Elaborate mansions of CNET founder sold off to the highest bidder after he squandered his billion dollar fortune



Halsey Minor's Los Angeles mansion is up for sale for $14.9 million

He paid $20 million for the four bedroom six bathroom property in 2006



Tech pioneer sold CNET networks for nearly $2 billion in 2008 and a tech firm he helped found to Google for $50 million in 2007

But after splurging on a failed property investments and expensive artwork the former tech giant filed for bankruptcy in May

His enormous San Francisco residence is on the market for $21 million



A tech pioneer once worth up to $1 billion is selling off his sprawling Los Angeles mansion for a fraction of what he paid, three months after he filed chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Halsey Minor, 48, founded CNET, a TV network and web brand focused on software and technology, in 1994 and despite flogging it for nearly $2 billion in 2008, he wound up broke after years of ill-fated investments.

Now, he's having to sell his opulent, but rundown 7,479-square-foot mansion in Bel Air, which is touted as having the 'mother of all views' that stretch unobstructed from the city to the ocean.



For sale: Halsey Minor is having to sell his opulent, but rundown 7,479-square-foot mansion in Bel Air, pictured

Broke: Minor, 48, founded CNET, a TV network and web brand focused on software and technology, in 1994 and despite flogging it for nearly $2 billion in 2008, he wound up broke

The home has hit the market for $14,950,000 as a bankruptcy sale - about $5 million less than the $20 million price Minor paid for it in 2006.

According to property records, he tried to sell the home for even less - just $8,995,000 - in 2010 but it didn't attract a buyer.

The four bedroom, six full bathroom property is located in lower Bel Air in a gated estate that sits on a cliff. It was originally designed by famed Mid-Century architect Richard Dorman and built in 1964.

But, according to the listing it requires a serious overhaul before it's move in ready.

The tech star-turned-failure also owns an 18,000-square-foot, eight-bedroom, seven-bathroom home in San Francisco's Presidio Heights neighborhood, which is also currently on the market for a more impressive price of $21 million.



Gone bust: Dotcom pioneer Halsey Minor, left, made hundreds of millions starting in the 90s, but is now filing personal bankruptcy after years of splurging on art and mansions

Mid-century: The four bedroom, six full bathroom property is located in lower Bel Air in a gated estate that sits on a cliff. It was originally designed by famed Mid-Century architect Richard Dorman and built in 1964

Minor setback: Minor bought his lavishly modern LA mansion in 2006 for $20 million but left it fall into disrepair

Bargain: The home has hit the market for $14,950,000 as a bankruptcy sale - about $5 million less than the $20 million price Minor paid for it in 2006

Even cheaper: According to property records, he tried to sell the home for even less - just $8,995,000 - in 2010 but it didn't attract a buyer

Large: The four bedroom, six full bathroom property is located in lower Bel Air in a gated estate that sits on a cliff

However, the home, modeled after Marie Antoinette's Le Petit Trianon in Versailles, is similarly in disrepair.

The tech pioneer filed chapter 7 bankruptcy in May after dabbling in investments outside the realm of the internet.

Minor, from Charlottesville, Virginia, founded CNET in 1994 and sold the network to CBS in 2008 for a reported $1.8 billion.

The tech entrepreneur had other successes as well. He was an early investor in the now-profitable OpenDNS. He also Pumped $6 million into a voice over internet startup called Grand Central that would later be purchased by Google, and turned into Google Voice, for $50 million in 2007.

Le mistake: Also in 2007, Minor bought a replica of a Versailles palace living quarters in San Francisco for $22 million. That property is now for sale for $21 million

Wasted space: Le Petit Trianon was never occupied by Minor and, like the Virginia estate, fell into disrepair. Skateboarders were found using its staircases as ramps

Abandoned: The city deemed the home 'abandoned' in 2011 and it was placed at auction but didn't sell

Bankrupt: The tech pioneer filed chapter 7 bankruptcy in May after dabbling in investments outside the realm of the internet

An early investment in Salesforce.com, a company that provides cloud computing solutions, proved fruitful after the company—now worth $25 billion—went public, earning Minor hundreds of millions.

And the master of the tech investment didn't stop investing there. He began investing in things outside his realm of expertise, a decision that prove to be his downfall.

In 2006, Minor lost $50 million in a divorce settlement with wife Deborah.

The following year, 2007, the investor made several purchases he'd later live to regret.

In his native Charlottesville, Minor became a major investor through his company Minor Family Hotels, in the ultimately failed development of the downtown Landmark Hotel project.

FROM BOOM TO BUST: AN ORIGINAL DOTCOM TYCOON FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY...IN 2013

Halsey Minor made hundreds of millions from his tech investments beginning in the early 1990s. But his trouble began after he began trying his hand at investing outside the dotcom world:

Los Angeles Mansion: On market for $14.9 million after he paid $20 million for the property in 2006

Charlottesville Landmark Hotel: High hopes couldn't save this 2007 hotel project. It would eventually be wrenched from him after standing unfinished for years. A judge later ruled that Minor owed investment firm $21.6 million according to court filings Carter's Grove Estate: Minor bought the historic James River Estate for $35 million in 2007. It subsequently stood empty and in disrepair for years until preservationists successfully got the crumbling mansion placed at auction in 2013. Le Petit Trianon: A replica of living quarters at the palace of Versailles in France, Minor also bought the $21 million San Francisco mansion in 2007, but neither he nor his family ever occupied it. Reports say the city deemed the property 'abandoned' in 2011 and placed it up for auction at $25 million

Sotheby's: Minor also fancied fine art, it seems, as the Sotheby's and Christie's auction houses took action against him in 2007, claiming he failed to make good on winning bids on several high-end paintings, including: Edward Hick's 'Peaceable Kingdom,' Hassam's 'Paris, Winter Day' and Warhol's 'Diamond Dust Shoes'

The nine-story building, designed to have 100 rooms, sat empty and unfinished for years after its initial construction.

Taxes and fines accrued as what was once a symbol of optimism in downtown Charlottesville remained just a sad skeleton.

The unfinished hotel was finally auctioned off last year for $6.25 million, though it continues to sit untouched and a scourge to the community, waiting for its new owners to resume construction.

Also in Virginia, an equally contentiousness investment by Minor sits along the James River.



The historic Carter's Grove estate, completed in 1755 is referred by the National Parks Service as 'one of colonial America’s most impressive examples of Georgian architecture.'

Minor struck a deal for the home he reportedly said 'I have no use for' in 2007.

But, by 2011, he'd missed two payments on the estate and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, preservationist became increasingly agitated by what they called Minor's neglect of the estate as it began to fall into disrepair due to lack of upkeep.

Over in San Francisco, Minor's 2007 $22 million purchase of a replica Versailles mansion in the city's posh Presidio Heights also ended in heartache.

Minor had big intentions of restoring the local and national landmark to its original grandeur, but the proposed $15 million revamp never came to be.

The city of San Francisco would site the 22-room building as abandoned, due to its state of disrepair, by 2011.



That same year, the mansion that Minor at no point occupied, would be put up for auction at $25 million.



But it didn't sell and the eight bedroom seven bathroom mansion is again on the market for $21 million.



After his 2011 bankruptcy claim, Minor's assets were frozen.

Carter's Grove was offered as security to Sotheby's, to which he owned several million more for well-known fine art pieces he'd neglected to fully pay for after winning them at auction.

Specifically, Edward Hicks 'Peaceable Kingdom with the Leopard of Serenity,' Childe Hassam's 'Paris, Winter Day,' and Andy Warhol's 'Diamond Dust Shoes.'

Artless: Minor purchased Edward Hicks 'The Peaceable Kingdom with the Leopard of Serenity' at auction, along with two other pieces, that he reported never paid for and auction houses Sotheby's and Christie's then sued

Diamond-eyed: Minor initially bid for and won Warhol's 'Diamond Dust Shoes' from Sotheby's auction house but later backed out and Sotheby's sued

Dismal days: Minor also refused to pay for Hassam's 'Paris, Winter Day'

Minor has since filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy and cites liabilities of $50 million to $100 million to 60 creditors, while claiming personal assets of between $10 million and $50 million.

'I love being an entrepreneur even though it involves financial risk,' Minor wrote in a letter to the Wall Street Journal. 'I have been fortunate enough to play a meaningful role in building great companies like CNET Networks, Salesforce.com, Rhapsody, NBCi, the service known as Google Voice and others. But if you win some you are going to lose some too.'

The Wall Street Journal reports Minor’s creditors include Allied Waste Services, Allied Waste Services, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Bank of America Home Loans, the California Department of Motor Vehicles, Dominion Virginia Power, the Internal Revenue Service, tax collector offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, various law firms and UCLA Medical Center, among others.



A trustee will now be appointed to Minor to liquidate his remaining assets in order to repay his many creditors.

Liquidated: Minor filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in May, the most common type of personal bankruptcy. His assets, said to range between $50 million and $100 million have and continue to be liquidated and used to pay Minor's long list of creditors

Unfinished business: Minor's planned Charlottesville, Virginia Landmark Hotel, was hatched in 2007 but sat empty at 2008, unfinished and skeletal until Minor and his investors were forced to abandon the project

Damaged goods: Minor purchased a James River plantation, Carter Grove, for $13.7 million, just before his assets were frozen from a 2011 bankruptcy. The historic property quickly fell into disrepair







