Who is Sergey Brin? The Google co-founder who surpassed Jeff Bezos to become the fourth richest man in the world

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, has slipped one spot on the world’s richest people list. Google co-founder Sergey Brin has overtaken him, according to the latest Forbes rankings. Brin’s wealth has reached about $240 billion (approximately ₹19.9 lakh crore), edging past Bezos’s $239.9 billion (around ₹19.91 lakh crore).

What has made Sergey Brin the 4th richest man in the world?

Alphabet’s stock has skyrocketed, and that is what’s driving Sergey Brin’s jump in wealth. He gained about $2.4 billion (roughly ₹19,900 crore) in just one day due to the stock’s strong run, which was enough to push him past Jeff Bezos into the world’s fourth-richest position. Shares climbed to around $317 (about ₹26,300) on December 10, up over 1% on the day and nearly 10% in the past month.

Who is Sergey Brin?

Born in the Soviet Union, Brin fled restrictions with his family as a child and moved to the United States, where he went on to build one of the world’s biggest tech empires. At 52, the Google co-founder holds a massive fortune due to Alphabet’s strong performance, proving that smarts and timing often beat flash.

Sergey Brin co-founded Google in 1998 with Larry Page while they were at Stanford University, turning a dorm-room project into a global search giant. Born in Moscow in 1973, he moved to the US at the age of six and later earned degrees in mathematics and computer science. Today, Brin and Page control over 51% of Alphabet’s voting shares but hold under 12% of its total equity, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index data.

Image: Getty Images

What is the reason behind this hype?

Alphabet’s Gemini 3 reportedly outpaced OpenAI rivals, attracting investors who are wary of rising AI costs. The momentum grew further after the US Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, reportedly selected Gemini for generative AI work at the Pentagon. Meanwhile, Amazon shares rose by less than 0.5%, lagging behind Alphabet.

This is the second time Brin has surpassed Bezos in rankings. Larry Page claimed the third spot on the Forbes richest billionaires list last month. As per Bloomberg, Brin currently trails Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, and Page.

Brin lives a low-key life despite massive wealth

Despite his enormous fortune, now close to ₹20 lakh crore, Brin keeps a relatively low profile, focusing on ambitious projects through Alphabet’s X lab, including self-driving cars and health technology. He lives in California and has three children - two with his first wife, biotech analyst Anne Wojcicki (a son and a daughter), and one daughter, Echo, with his second wife, legal tech founder Nicole Shanahan. Brin married Wojcicki in 2007 and divorced in 2015. He later married Shanahan in 2018, and the couple divorced in 2023.