10 things you didn’t know about Google co-founder Sergey Brin
The 46-year-old Russian-born immigrant to the US has a colourful past, a reputation for being a ladies man and an estimated worth of more than US$50 billion
Google’s co-founders are stepping down from their executive positions at the search engine’s parent company Alphabet, the pair announced on December 3.
More than 20 years ago, Sergey Brin and Larry Page first launched Google from a dormitory room near Stanford University. Since then, the company has grown into the world’s most popular search engine – and branched out into everything from self-driving cars to life-extension research.
It’s been a wild ride for both co-founders, but Brin’s history is especially intriguing. Keep reading to learn more about the 46-year-old Brin, who served as Alphabet’s president and is now worth more than US$50 billion.
He is a billionaire
Sergey Brin, 46, is now valued at an estimated US$56.8 billion, according to Forbes. But he comes from more humble beginnings.
Brin was born in the Soviet Union during the summer of 1973. His father dreamed of being an astrophysicist, but his Jewish background and USSR’s anti-Semitism kept him from those ambitions. Instead, he ended up working as an economist for a government planning agency and crunching numbers for Soviet propaganda.
The family managed to get exit visas and flee the USSR when Brin was six. However, his family’s stressful, troubled experience left the Google co-founder with a lasting appreciation for democracy and freedom.
The Brin family ended up in Maryland, where the Google co-founder was enrolled in a Montessori school that emphasised independence and fostering creativity. Later on, Brin would discover that his Google co-founder, Larry Page, had also gone to a Montessori school.
Brin didn’t revisit Moscow until he was 17, during a class trip led by his father. “Thank you for taking us all out of Russia,” Brin told his dad. Spurred by a blossoming defiant streak, he threw pebbles at a police car, and almost got in serious trouble when the officers inside noticed.
Brin eventually earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science at the University of Maryland, and then flew west to Stanford to get his Ph.D. in computer science. There, his love of high-adrenaline exercise flourished: he tried out skating, skiing, gymnastics and even the trapeze.