Historical Figure
Larry Page
b. 1973
American businessman (born 1973)
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"TED Talk on Googles Twenty Percent Time" — February 2004
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Biography
Lawrence Edward Page is an American businessman and computer scientist who co-founded Google with Sergey Brin. Page is a centibillionaire and among the richest people in the world. According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes, as of 2026, Page's estimated net worth stood at US$269 billion, making him the second-richest individual in the world.
Timeline
The story of Larry Page, told in moments.
Co-founded Google with Sergey Brin out of a garage in Menlo Park. Their Stanford dorm project, BackRub, had become too big for the university's servers. Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim wrote them a $100,000 check before Google was even incorporated.
Google went public at $85 per share. The IPO raised $1.67 billion. Many Wall Street analysts thought the company was overvalued. The stock would eventually surpass $3,000 per share.
Restructured Google into Alphabet Inc. and became its CEO. The move separated Google's core business from experimental "moonshot" projects like self-driving cars, life sciences, and internet balloons.
Stepped down as CEO of Alphabet alongside Brin. Remained a board member and controlling shareholder. Largely disappeared from public life. Owns a superyacht and funds flying car startups.
In Their Own Words (6)
It's hard to keep things moving. And that's always a big trick. I think for me, the key is setting really big goals. And, you know, with YouTube, I think we've had tremendous leadership, both with the founders and now with Salar, who's been running it.
Larry Page Q&A Zeitgeist Americas 2012, at the annual Zeitgeist conference in Arizona. Published on October 16, 2012. Answering the question asked by Larry Aidem: "And I'm just curious what you do both at Google and also in the way you've managed the YouTube acquisition, which I think you could look at as one of the most successful examples of somebody buying something and not screwing it up. What's consciously done to keep that ethos, both at the Google level and then at YouTube?", 2012
Sometimes it’s important to wake up and stop dreaming. When a really great dream shows up, grab it
Larry Page’s University of Michigan Commencement Address, 2009., 2009
I have a simple algorithm, which is, wherever you see paid researchers instead of grad students, that's not where you want to be doing research.
Plenary speech, AAAS Annual conference, San Francisco (February 2007)., 2007
The Star Trek computer doesn't seem that interesting. They ask it random questions, it thinks for a while. I think we can do better than that.
Quoted in Ben Elgin, "Google's Goal: "Understand Everything," BusinessWeek (2004-05-03)., 2004
If you look at things like Google Now also. Maybe you want to just have [a question] answered for you before you ask it.
theguardian.com.
Artifacts (15)
Untitled. Print from the suite of ten entitled 'Ten Works by Ten Painters'
Reinhardt, Ad
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