Former Apple CEO buys out his Palm Beach neighbor for $11M
John Sculley, former CEO of Apple, bought out his Palm Beach neighbor for $11.4 million in an off-market deal. His ocean-facing estate now spans a full acre.
Records show SandyBeach LLC, managed by Sculley’s wife, Diane Sculley, bought the house at 110 Mockingbird Trail from longtime owner Nancy M. Farry.
John Sculley was CEO of Apple from 1983 until 1993. Sales at the company during his tenure grew from $800 million to $8 billion, the New York Times reported. Prior to Apple, Sculley was president at PepsiCo, and he is credited with creating the Pepsi Challenge, a move that earned him a reputation as a marketing genius.
Following his time at Apple, Sculley had a brief stint as chairman and CEO of New York City-based Spectrum Information Technologies, before moving into tech investing. He was one of the founding investors in the wireless service provider MetroPCS, which merged with T-Mobile in 2012.
Sculley was portrayed by Jeff Daniels in the 2015 bio drama “Steve Jobs.”
Diane Sculley, formerly Diane Gibbs Poli, is his third wife. The couple married in 2013, and she was vice president and design coordinator for Wittmann Building Corporation at the time, according to the Palm Beach Daily News.
Farry, the seller of the home, is the widow of late financier Donald Farry, who died in September 2021.
The couple bought the half-acre Mockingbird Trail home for $300,000 in 1993, property records show. The 2,900-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bathroom house was built in 1955, according to records.
It is directly adjacent to the Sculley’s home at 1214 North Ocean Boulevard, an ocean-facing half-acre property with a main house, a guest house, and a pool. The home spans 3,700 square feet, with five bedrooms, six bathrooms and one half-bathroom. It was built in 1951. The Sculleys bought the house for $15 million in 2018, records show. The latest purchase brings the Sculleys’ total amount spent for an acre of Palm Beach real estate to $26.4 million.
As owners of properties on the island’s north end, they also have deeded access to the street’s beach cabana, a coveted feature of homes on this end of Palm Beach.
Buying out neighbors has been a trend across South Florida, as luxury buyers piece together larger compounds for more space and privacy.
It’s been a busy season for the Palm Beach market. Luxury car dealer Michael Cantanucci bought an oceanfront estate for a record $170 million in late April. The seller, coffee mogul Bob Stiller, turned around and bought a lakefront mansion from billionaire casino boss Steve Wynn for $66 million this month. Rush Limbaugh’s widow sold their oceanfront compound for $155 million in March to cosmetics heir William Lauder.
