Major Shakeup in Global Billionaire Rankings
A significant reshuffling has occurred in the world's wealth hierarchy as Google-parent company Alphabet experiences a dramatic stock price increase. This development has propelled Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to new positions among the planet's wealthiest individuals, according to the latest Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List.
The Numbers Behind the Wealth Surge
Larry Page, Google co-founder, witnessed an extraordinary single-day wealth increase of $8.7 billion on Monday, November 24. This massive jump elevated his total net worth to $264.9 billion, pushing him past Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison, whose fortune stands at $247.4 billion following a decline in Oracle's share price.
Meanwhile, Sergey Brin also climbed the wealth ladder, surpassing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to claim the position of world's fourth-richest person. Brin's net worth now totals $245.6 billion, while Bezos trails at $241.5 billion.
Current Top 5 Billionaires Worldwide
1. Elon Musk: $476.4 billion
2. Larry Page: $264.9 billion
3. Larry Ellison: $247.4 billion
4. Sergey Brin: $245.6 billion
5. Jeff Bezos: $241.5 billion
Why Page Holds More Wealth Than Brin
Despite co-founding Google together and collectively holding 87.9% of Alphabet's Class B stock (which carries 10 votes per share), Larry Page maintains significantly more shares than his partner Sergey Brin. Page currently holds 389 million shares compared to Brin's 362.7 million.
This wealth gap primarily stems from Brin's extensive philanthropic activities. According to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Brin has actively sold portions of his stake and made substantial donations of his Alphabet and Tesla stock to nonprofit organizations and Parkinson's research initiatives.
His charitable contributions include $700 million earlier this year, following donations of $615 million in 2023 and $600 million in the previous year.
Alphabet's Meteoric Market Performance
The wealth surge coincides with Alphabet approaching the remarkable $4 trillion market capitalization milestone, having previously crossed the $3 trillion threshold in September this year. Several factors have contributed to this impressive valuation growth over the past three months.
The company secured a victory in the Google Chrome case, while the successful launches of Google Gemini 3.0 and the Nano Banana Pro AI image generation model have significantly boosted investor confidence.
Additionally, news that Meta is in discussions with Google to utilize its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) for training AI models generated substantial market excitement, contributing to a single-day market cap increase of $250 billion.
Investor optimism remains high regarding Alphabet's Artificial Intelligence and Cloud business divisions, which continue to demonstrate strong growth potential and technological leadership in the competitive tech landscape.
