Larry Page, co-founder and board member of Alphabet Inc., has added an estimated $6.1 billion to his net worth following a surge in shares of the tech giant.
The increase comes as Alphabet continues to benefit from strong advertising revenue growth, expansion of data center infrastructure, and positive market sentiment.
The latest jump in Page’s fortune is reported by the Forbes Billionaire Index, which tracks the changing wealth of the world’s richest individuals.
According to Forbes, as of January 2026, Page’s net worth is estimated at $263.8 billion, reflecting the rise in Alphabet stock.
Page, an American businessman and computer scientist, co-founded Google in 1998 with fellow Stanford Ph.D. student Sergey Brin. Together, they developed PageRank, the algorithm that powers Google Search, for which they received the Marconi Prize in 2004.
A brief on Larry Page
Page served as CEO of Google from 1997 until 2001, when Eric Schmidt took over, and again from 2011 until 2015, when he became CEO of Alphabet, Google’s newly formed parent company.
On December 4, 2019, Page and Brin stepped down from all executive roles, though Page remains a board member, controlling shareholder, and employee of Alphabet. Under his leadership, Google became a global technology powerhouse, with platforms like YouTube, Gmail, and Google Maps, as well as innovations in predictive analytics through Google Analytics.
Analysts have attributed the gain to strong projections for Google’s advertising business, including initiatives like Smart Bidding Exploration, which optimizes ad placements and increases the percentage of search queries linked to advertising. Citizens Investment recently raised its price target for Alphabet shares to $385, highlighting confidence in the company’s near-term earnings prospects.
Alphabet has also taken steps to expand its infrastructure, announcing plans to acquire Intersect, a U.S.-based data center and energy infrastructure provider, for $4.75 billion. This move aims to boost the company’s renewable energy capacity for Google’s global operations and strengthen its data center network.
What you should know
Page’s early life laid the foundation for his success. Born in Lansing, Michigan, on March 26, 1973, he grew up in a home steeped in science and technology. His father, a computer science professor, and mother, a programming instructor, encouraged experimentation with electronics and computing.
From age six, Page began using computers and later earned a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan and an M.Sc. in Computer Science from Stanford University, where he met Brin and eventually launched Google.
In the early days of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page struggled to raise money. They often asked their professors for cash and hardware, which they needed to run the startup. The first seed money they received was a $100,000 check written to them by one of their professors.
They were later able to secure good funding for their business from venture capital firms that were interested in their startup tech company.
