Google Founders Larry Page, Sergey Brin Personal Fortune Grows
Share surge in Alphabet over the past year allows founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to join the exclusive $100 billion plus club
The personal fortune of Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin has grown, with both men reaching the super-rich $100 billion (£73 billion) plus club.
Thanks to a rise in the share price of Alphabet (Google’s parent organisation), Page and Brin joined the exclusive club of super-rich people with 12-digit fortunes, according to the Bloomberg billionaires index.
Besides Page and Brin, there is only six other men in this exclusive club, who mostly stem from the technology sector.
This club includes Amazon’s Jeff Bezos ($197bn); Tesla’s Elon Musk ($175bn); Microsoft’s Bill Gates ($145bn); Bernard Arnault who has the luxury goods empire LVMH ($132bn); Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg ($118bn); and finally veteran investor Warren Buffett ($104bn).
Google founders
Page and Brin had co-founded Google in 1996, and along with Eric Schmidt, the three men grew the company into the tech powerhouse it is today.
Page had been CEO of Alphabet, while Brin served as President, when a major change occurred two years ago.
In December 2019 both Page and Brin announced they were stepping down, and would be replaced by the current Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who would assume the mantel of Alphabet CEO.
Both Page and Brin remain as board members, but they still hold 51 percent of voting rights at Alphabet, so still have ultimate control of the company.
It should be noted that Page and Brin also still own 11.4 percent of Alphabet – a company that is currently valued at $1.5 trillion.
The role as Alphabet CEO had not been an easy task for Larry Page.
In 2013 Page revealed he suffered from a rare medical condition that affect his vocal chords, which made it difficult for him to speak.
Page also revealed at the time that as his condition made him choose his words more carefully, his friends believed he was a better CEO for it.
Personal fortune
The Guardian reported that Page, 48, has seen his fortune increase by $21bn so far in 2021, to $103.6bn before the market opened on Monday.
This makes him the sixth-richest person in the world.
Brin, 47, meanwhile had a $100.2bn fortune – and increase of $20.4bn this year.
But he slipped out of the exclusive $100bn club, after a decrease in Alphabet’s shares earlier this week.
