Google, now part of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG | GOOGL Price Prediction), was founded in 1988 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Each has become a billionaire many times over. Alphabet received a favorable opinion this week in the antitrust case brought against it by the Department of Justice. The stock rallied on the news, and this added to each man’s net worth. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows that each has added $2 billion to their net worth this year.
The net worth of Brin and Page differs slightly. Brin’s is $193 billion, which makes him the sixth richest person in the world. Page’s is $206 billion, which puts him in first place.
Alphabet’s stock has had an extraordinary run in the last five years as part of the current bull market. The S&P 500 is up 89%. Alphabet’s shares are up 196%. Alphabet is the fourth most valuable company in the world, with a market value of $2.84 trillion. Brin and Page each own about 3% of the company. Because there are two share classes, from a voting control standpoint, they have the final decision on anything they want to.
Alphabet has also had an earnings success that has driven the stock price. Its core search business has a global market share of 90%. Its Chrome browser’s share is 68%. YouTube is by far the dominant video site in America. As it has begun to offer paid subsections, it has become a direct competitor to Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX).
In the most recently reported quarter, revenue rose 14% to $96.4 billion. EPS rose from $1.89 to $2.31. Its core ad-based businesses rose 12% to $82.5 billion. Its cloud business, which may be the future of the company, had a revenue increase of 32% to $13.6 billion.
Alphabet’s AI investment is among the largest in the world. It plans to spend $85 billion on this part of its business this year.
When the court decision was passed down, the judge mentioned that Google’s search market share could be eroded by AI-driven search. The decision said AI had “changed the course of this case.”
The court ruling may point out the primary reason that Brin and Page could take a hit to their wealth. AI has the potential to revolutionize the world of search entirely.
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