Mr Malone, whose Liberty Media is the ultimate owner of Virgin Media, has not disclosed how much he was offered for Castlemartin by his fellow American.
“He said, ‘I’ve heard it was one of the most beautiful places in Ireland’,” Mr Malone said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “And I said, ‘Yeah, probably, but it ain’t for sale’.”
Today’s News in 90 Seconds – Thursday July 31
The businessman paid €28m for Castlemartin Estate in Co Kildare in 2014. The previous owner was the late Tony O’Reilly, who bought the estate from Lord Gowrie in the early 1970s when it was in a “condition of stately decline”, as he described it.
It had been vacant for a number of years, and before that was rented to the Rolling Stones and the singer Donovan. Originally built in 1713, it has 28 rooms and is 26,000 sqft. There are 10 en-suite bedrooms upstairs, while the six reception rooms downstairs all overlook the Liffey.
Mark Zuckerberg. Photo: Getty
The coach house on the estate was converted into guest accommodation, and was once used by Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa.
Although Mr O’Reilly’s parents were buried in the graveyard of an old church on the estate, the former newspaper tycoon was forced to sell Castlemartin in 2014 when he got into severe financial difficulties. It was said to have been a condition of the sale that Mr O’Reilly would be accommodated by the new owners if he wanted to visit the burial grounds.
After Mr O’Reilly’s death last year, The New York Times published a correction to its obituary of the Irish businessman, saying it had mis-stated the price that Malone had paid for Castlemartin which was “close to €28m, not €7.4m”.
The US businessman, who has Irish roots, bought Humewood Castle in Co Wicklow in 2013, reportedly for about €8m. He has said that it was his wife Leslie’s “fancy”. She renovated Humewood, and oversaw 320 craftsmen, Malone told The Wall Street Journal. The couple also renovated Castlemartin.
The Malones are among the biggest landowners in America, with about 2.2 million acres in their portfolio. They have begun to sell off some of their “recreational” properties of late, including a private island in the Bahamas for $26m (€22.75m).
The 84-year-old businessman has said that he wants to make sure much of the land remains open in perpetuity. “We’re big into conservation,” he said. “Our biggest push right now is to make sure that the, give-or-take, 2 million acres we own are going to be kept open.”
He is currently selling RiverEdge, a 510-acre equestrian estate in Maryland, that has an asking price of $29.8m. Malone, whose nickname is the “Cable Cowboy” and whose fortune has been estimated at $10bn, has explained that he doesn’t need the money, and will give the estate to a non-profit company if a buyer doesn’t emerge.
The show barn on the estate has stained glass, ornate ceilings and cupolas. Its oak doors weigh about 1,000 lbs each.
The Malones are now based in Florida, where they bought a $38m home on Jupiter Island a decade ago.
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