Google's Sergey Brin donates $700M worth of stock to mystery recipients

New York Post

22-05-2025

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has gifted nearly $700 million worth of Alphabet stock — but the beneficiaries of his largesse are a mystery.
The tech mogul — whose net worth is estimated at $144 billion, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index — transferred approximately 4.1 million shares of Google's parent company, evenly split between newly converted Class A and Class C stock, according to an SEC filing Wednesday.
The regulatory filing did not disclose the recipient or recipients of the shares, leaving open the possibility that the gift could be directed to charitable foundations, donor-advised funds or personal trusts.
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3 Google co-founder Sergey Brin has gifted nearly $700 million worth of Alphabet stock, according to an SEC filing from Wednesday. Brin is seen far right with Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis (center) and podcaster Alex Kantrowitz (left).
REUTERS
A spokesperson for Brin's family office declined to comment on the transaction.
The timing of the donation comes as Alphabet stock has been buoyed by positive investor sentiment following announcements at Google's annual developer conference.
The Class A and C shares are up more than 13% over the past month.
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On Tuesday, Google unveiled a new 'AI Overview' feature in its signature search product — dubbed 'AI mode' — which is expected to be rolled out to all US users.
The feature enables direct interaction with Google's artificial intelligence tools, bringing its search capabilities more in line with platforms like OpenAI's ChatGPT.
This latest donation fits a broader pattern for Brin, who has regularly moved substantial portions of his Alphabet holdings into philanthropic or strategic initiatives, often coinciding with major Google product announcements.
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3 Brin co-founded Google alongside Larry Page (left) in 1998. Google went on to become the world's most dominant search engine.
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In 2023, Brin donated roughly $600 million in Alphabet shares around the time of Google's AI search launch. He also reported additional share gifts exceeding $100 million in May and November of that year.
Brin has a longstanding track record of supporting causes related to medical research, especially Parkinson's disease, which runs in his family.
Through his nonprofit foundation, he has also funded projects in climate technology and public health.
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Past donations have supported startups researching psychedelic treatments and ambitious infrastructure ideas — such as a $155 billion initiative to construct artificial 'energy islands' off the coast of Copenhagen.
3 Brin and Page stepped down from day-to-day duties running Google in 2019, though he maintains considerable influence on the company's direction.
Christopher Sadowski
Despite stepping down from day-to-day management at Google in 2019 alongside fellow co-founder Larry Page, Brin remains deeply invested in the company's long-term direction.
As of Wednesday's close, Brin's personal fortune made him the 10th-richest person in the world.
Page holds a slight edge as the ninth-richest, with an estimated net worth of $153.2 billion.
Much of Brin's wealth is held in a mix of Alphabet's Class B and Class C shares — structures that preserve his voting power while offering flexibility in financial planning.
Since Google's initial public offering in 2004, Brin has sold more than $11 billion in company stock, Bloomberg data shows.