Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are the world's second- and third-richest people. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty ImagesAlphabet’s market value may have crossed $4 trillion, but Google’s co-founders appear to have taken a more personal measure of success: avoiding California’s proposed billionaire tax. The moves are widely assumed to be an effort to avoid a one-time 5 per cent wealth tax on residents worth more than $1 billion. It contrasts with another California billionaire, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, who shrugged off the levy, saying he hadn’t “thought about it even once”. Page (worth $287 billion) and Brin ($267 billion) are the world’s second- and third-richest people.

Source: The Irish Times January 18, 2026 18:00 UTC