Billionaire Paycom CEO Drops $26.5 Million on Malibu’s Il Pelicano Estate

Courtesy of James McClain

Billionaire tech entrepreneur Chad Richison, the founder and chief executive of payroll processor Paycom and one of Oklahoma’s richest men, has paid a discounted $26.5 million for an idiosyncratic Malibu property that was originally listed at $57.5 million when it first appeared on the market, about 2.5 years ago. Locally known as Il Pelicano, the Tuscan-style house sits on a small rocky knoll just above the beach, with steps leading down to the sand.

The sellers, skincare entrepreneur Liz Edlich and trial attorney Dale Kinsella, bought the property in 2000 for just $2 million. The secluded estate featured little more than a bedraggled beach shack atop the rocks at that time. Over the next 12 years, the couple received permits and built their dream home: a two-story, 3,800-square-foot home that manages to blend in with its natural surroundings.

Edlich filled the property with a treasure trove of one-of-a-kind artifacts from her travels around the globe. There are antique doors from France at the entryway, and the home’s exterior is clad in imported stone from Italy. The kitchen chandelier was hewn from a fossilized Amazonian jungle vine. In the living room, the intricately carved mantle over the fireplace was originally part of an antique stone door purchased in India; there’s a 200-year-old, hand-carved ceiling in the den that was shipped from Sri Lanka. Even the powder room has its own claim to fame — the sink is actually a fossilized clam shell that was pulled from the bottom of the ocean.

But the most spectacular thing about the property is undoubtedly its location, blessedly free from neighbors and with direct access to two separate beaches. (All the nearby homes are located much further up the cliff, not down on the rocks.) A maniacally long and steep driveway leads all the way from Pacific Coast Highway, over the bluff to the rocky knoll and private motorcourt.

Richison, 50, began his career in sales for ADP before founding Paycom in 1998. The native Oklahoman’s startup is believed to be one of the first companies to process payroll completely online, and the firm remains one of the fastest-growing in the U.S., with shares skyrocketing over the past year. Richison’s net worth has skyrocketed, too — Forbes pegs its current value at $3.6 billion, more than double the $1.5 billion it was barely a year ago.

Besides their new Malibu digs, the Richison family continues to maintain a $5.8 million vacation home on Florida’s Marco Island, directly on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. But their main residence remains a 240-acre compound in the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond, Oklahoma, where they enjoy luxe amenities that include a 10,500-square-foot main mansion, a full-size tennis court, a small lake, and a huge swimming pool fed by its own lazy river/mini-waterpark.

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