The billionaire co-founder of WhatsApp has been shopping for an ultra-luxury waterfront estate in South Florida, The Real Deal has learned. 

Ukranian-American businessman and computer programmer Jan Koum has toured a handful of properties in recent months, including Tom Brady’s waterfront estate in Indian Creek, as well as a waterfront mansion on Bal Bay Drive in Bal Harbour, sources told TRD. Both are in gated communities. 

Brady has been entertaining offers for his property at 26 Indian Creek Island Road. The retired quarterback and businessman was reportedly close to selling the mansion for a price ranging from $150 million to $175 million. 

Koun and WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton sold WhatsApp, a popular communications app, to Facebook’s parent company, Menlo Park, California-based Meta, in 2014 for $19.3 billion. Koun is now worth nearly $17 billion, according to Forbes. 

Sales activity in the ultra high-end coastal market in Miami-Dade County, including Miami Beach and Bal Harbour, has increased since the presidential election. Brokers say the limited inventory of turnkey homes is keeping prices high.  

So far this year, at least three major deals have set or will set neighborhood records once they close. Todd Glaser and his partners are in contract to pay $105 million for Sonny and Suzanne Kahn’s waterfront home in Miami Beach, a deal that will mark a record for North Bay Road. Glaser is hoping to either flip the property or build a spec mansion that could hit the market for $250 million. 

In Altos del Mar, a gated neighborhood in North Beach, the CEO of Sedano’s Supermarkets sold his oceanfront home for a record $35.6 million in an off-market deal. 

And earlier this year, developer Fatos Rosenberg sold a waterfront estate and the house across the street for $92.1 million. The $85.2 million sale of the larger property marked a record for Miami’s Bay Point neighborhood. 

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