Larry Page's wealth in financial terms
In the late 1990s, a revolutionary search engine named Google was born in a garage in Menlo Park, California. Founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the duo aimed to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."
Initially known as Backrub, Google officially launched in 1998, quickly establishing itself as a powerful search engine. Over the years, Google branched out to offer various services such as Gmail, Google Maps, Google Drive, and YouTube, solidifying its position as a key player in the tech industry.
In 2015, Google rebranded itself as Alphabet, a move aimed at restructuring all of its individual divisions under one umbrella. This rebranding marked a significant shift for the company, as it transitioned from a search engine to one of the world's most influential technology businesses.
Alphabet's diversified nature includes areas such as advertising, mobile operating systems, cloud services, artificial intelligence, and more. This diversification has proven to be a successful strategy, with the use of artificial intelligence adding more than $18 billion to the co-founders' combined wealth.
The company's focus on AI is not just about financial gain. Larry Page and Sergey Brin have a long-term goal to follow their interests such as prolonging human life through AI and self-driving vehicles.
Google's success has also translated into significant personal wealth for its founders. Larry Page currently has a net worth of $143 billion, making him one of the wealthiest people in the world, sitting close to Bill Gates and Larry Ellison on the billionaire rich list.
Despite its success, Google has faced increasing regulatory scrutiny, particularly in Europe. The creation of Alphabet was in part a response to these challenges, making it easier to avoid such scrutiny.
Google's market capitalization currently stands at $2.27 trillion, and it is now part of the 'magnificent seven stocks', a group of the biggest tech companies. In 2019, Larry Page stepped down as CEO of Alphabet, with Sundar Pichai taking over the role. As of 2025, Pichai continues to lead the company.
In October 2015, Google dethroned Microsoft to become the world's most valuable company among the 'magnificent seven stocks'. More recently, Nvidia has taken this title, reflecting the dynamic nature of the tech industry.
The algorithm used by Google ranks web pages based on the number and quality of links pointing to them, a strategy that has contributed to its dominance in the search engine market. As Alphabet continues to evolve, it remains a force to be reckoned with in the tech world.