Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos spends $245.6 million on California's most expensive house in history

Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos has bought the most expensive house in California’s history, dropping a cool $US165 million ($245.6 million) on a Beverly Hills mansion.

Mr Bezos, named “the richest man in modern history”, has a net worth of about $US150 billion, so it’s short change for the internet entrepreneur, despite the record-breaking price tag.

The palatial property, called Warner Estate, was designed in the 1930s for Jack Warner, the late former president of entertainment giant Warner Bros, according to Mansion Global.

The estate features a 1200-square-metre mansion, two guesthouses, a tennis court, a swimming pool, and a nine-hole golf course. It also includes a “motor court” that has a garage and gas pumps, according to Architectural Digest.

Mr Bezos purchased the 3.6-hectare property from media mogul David Geffen, who bought it in 1990 for $US47.5 million ($70.71 million) – also a record-breaker for Los Angeles at the time.

It also eclipses the previous record for a property sale in California, made when Lachlan Murdoch paid $US150 million ($223 million)  for Chartwell, a Bel-Air estate famously used as the Clampett residence in the television show The Beverly Hillbillies.

It’s been a spendy start to 2020 for Mr Bezos; earlier this year he purchased three New York apartments in a deal valued at around $US80 million ($119 million).