Google’s Sergey Brin gifts shares worth US$700mil

SAN FRANCISCO: Google co-founder Sergey Brin, tapping a personal fortune that exceeds US$140bil, has given nearly US$700mil in Alphabet Inc shares away as a gift.

The contribution was disclosed Wednesday in a regulatory filing, which didn’t specify who received the roughly 4.1 million shares. The sum, evenly split between newly converted Class A and Class C stock, could be directed to charity or given to financial vehicles or trusts.

A spokesperson for Brin’s family office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The disclosure comes on a good day for Alphabet shareholders. The stock rose as much as 5.6% on Wednesday after product announcements signalled that the company is adapting to the artificial intelligence (AI) age.

At its annual developer conference on Tuesday, Google said it would roll out a new tab called “AI mode” in search to all US users. The tab is a place where users can interact directly with AI models, similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The stock gift extends a pattern for Brin, who offloaded roughly US$600mil in 2023 following the debut of Google’s AI search –also around the time of Google’s developer conference. He disclosed additional gifts of shares worth more than US$100mil in May and November of last year.

Brin often gives to support research into Parkinson’s disease and also has a climate and health-focused nonprofit. It has bankrolled startups working on everything from psychedelics to an ambitious US$155bil dollar project to build “energy islands” in Copenhagen.

Brin and co-founder Larry Page, who stepped down from top management roles in 2019, saw their fortunes rise by a combined US$7bil on Wednesday.

Brin is currently the 10th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$144.3bil, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He trails Page, the world’s ninth-richest, with a US$153.2bil fortune.

Brin’s worth is largely made up of a combination of Class B and Class C shares of Alphabet, which became Google’s parent company a decade ago. He’s sold more than US$11bil worth of shares since Google’s initial public offering in 2004, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. — Bloomberg