Who owns Google? Google is not a private company; hence, it isn’t owned by a single individual; hence, under Alphabet, it is owned by individuals and institutions like the Vanguard Group, BlackRock, Fidelity Management & Research LLC, Sundar Pichai, its CEO, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin, its two co-founders, among others.
Google LLC is one of the most prominent companies in the world today. With their products and services, ranging from search engines to video sharing, email, navigation, and cloud computing, they dominate the global technology industry.
Google is known for being a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., a multinational conglomerate that was formed in 2015 to restructure the corporate structure of Google. This was led by co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who first created the company as graduate students at Stanford University in 1998.
Since then, Google has quickly become one of the most successful technology businesses, with its search engine receiving billions of queries daily and its other popular services like YouTube and Gmail having similar large user bases around the world. As a result, not only has it significantly shaped how we consume information on the internet, but it has also made Alphabet one of the most influential corporations in terms of market value thanks to its ownership of Google LLC.
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Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, has an intricate share structure with three classes of shares, which are intended to keep insiders in control while allowing all types of shareholders to influence key decisions.
Institutional investors and the public primarily own Class A shares; these stockholders receive one vote per share and trade on exchanges under GOOGL.
Class B shares have a ten-vote-per-share value and are held exclusively by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as other insiders; these shares are not publicly traded.
Alphabet introduced Class C shares in 2014 through a stock split; they carry no voting power, but are available for buying or selling like regular stocks under the ticker symbol “GOOG.”
According to 2023 records, Alphabet had over 13.01 billion outstanding Class A and Class C combined shares, but they don’t specify exact numbers for each class.
Larry Page holds substantial ownership of Alphabet, boasting 19.8 million shares, accounting for 3.0% of its outstanding shares, and placing him 8th among the richest people in the U.S. in March 2023 with a total net worth of $96.5 billion.
The American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur rose to prominence after co-founding Google alongside Sergey Brin in 1998, where he worked as Chairman until August 2001, when Eric Schmidt took over until his return in April 2011. In July 2015, he became CEO of Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, a role he held up until December 4th, 2019, before transitioning into an executive board member and majority shareholder of Alphabet while remaining at Google’s helm.
Along with his success at Google and Alphabet Inc., Page has invested in pioneering startups such as Kitty Hawk, which develops flying cars, and Opener, serving on their boards since they began. This demonstrates Page’s passion for using technology to push past existing boundaries and create new possibilities.
Sergey Brin is well known for his involvement in the company he co-founded, Google. Sergey Brin first met Larry Page at Stanford University, where they were both pursuing graduate degrees in computer science. They each had a passion for technological innovation and found many common interests when discussing technological topics.
After finishing their respective degrees, the two decided to start working on an internet search engine together — eventually developing the world’s most-used search engine, Google.
As of February 18th, 2023, Sergey Brin owns 19 million shares of Alphabet Inc., which puts him in control of almost 3% of the total stock outstanding and makes him one of Alphabet’s largest individual shareholders with a net worth estimated at $83.9 billion — putting him 9th among the wealthiest people in the U.S. in 2023. As president of Alphabet up until December 2019, Brin played an active role within Alphabet and continues to do so despite his resignation from his post.
He has also become a major investor in innovative startups such as Planetary Resources and Impossible Foods, which are both set to revolutionize the way humans interact with technology and food, respectively. Beyond that, Sergey has also used part of his wealth to make charitable donations towards causes like disaster relief efforts across America following Hurricane Dorian in 2018.
In 2004, Sundar Pichai joined Google as Vice President of Product Management, where he worked on major products such as the Google Toolbar, Chrome browser, and Android OS. His successful contributions led to his promotion to Senior Vice President in 2012 and then CEO of Google in 2015, succeeding Larry Page, who moved into a senior role within Alphabet Inc. After restructuring these two companies into one entity in December 2019, Pichai was named CEO of both Alphabet Inc. and Google.
Sundar Pichai, Alphabet Inc’s top shareholder after co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, owns 88,693 shares in the company, representing 0.01% of all outstanding shares.
Since joining Google, Sundar Pichai has proved to be a pivotal figure in its transformation into one of the most successful technology companies today. His implementation of innovative products has enabled Google to expand its worldwide presence. With his knowledge of technology coupled with savvy business strategy, he has brought many ideas to fruition while simultaneously prioritizing customer service.
In addition, Pichai is an active leader in advocating for increased access to digital resources via social media platforms such as Twitter, often tweeting about topics concerning AI development or technological advancements made by Alphabet subsidiaries like Waymo or DeepMind Technologies.
Under Pichai’s leadership, the company’s revenues have skyrocketed by 281%, soaring from $74.9 billion in 2015 to a staggering $282.83 billion as of 2022 — quite remarkable given the unstable markets recently. This dramatic surge has propelled Pichai’s net worth into the billions, making him one of the wealthiest individuals alive.
As of April 2023, Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock Inc., T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and Fidelity Management & Research Company were among the top Google institutional shareholders.
Over several years, Vanguard has steadily accumulated a total of more than 44 million Alphabet shares within its various funds, including the highly popular Vanguard Communication Services ETF (VOX). The VOX fund predominantly invests in communication services firms; GOOGL and GOOG remain two of its largest holding positions at 11.73% and 10.40%, respectively. With over $7.2 trillion under management globally, Vanguard primarily provides mutual funds and ETFs at competitive rates to help customers achieve their financial objectives cost-effectively.
BlackRock Inc. (BLK) is a global asset management company that controls an estimated $10 trillion in assets as of April 26, 2023. The company primarily focuses on mutual funds and ETFs, including the popular line of iShares ETF products. BLK owns 416,003,093 Class A shares, representing approximately 7.00% of all outstanding Class A shares, and 19,224,377 Class C shares, representing approximately 6.10% of all outstanding Class C shares, according to Fintel. Among other institutional holders, BLK owns about 7.68% of Alphabet’s shares, according to CNN Money.
The iShares Core S&P 500 Index (IVV) is BlackRock’s largest ETF, holding an impressive $304 billion in assets under management. Alphabet (GOOGL and GOOG) stocks make up two of the top 10 holdings at 1.81% and 1.59%, respectively, representing a total of 39 million Alphabet shares that effectively makes BlackRock one of Google’s most prominent institutional investors over recent quarters.
BlackRock supports not only major tech companies, but also other businesses across different sectors that meet their investment requirements through value-oriented investments like dividends or share repurchases. They have also started investing in new technologies, such as electric vehicle startups, to diversify the group’s overall exposure away from conventional markets.
As one of Alphabet’s largest shareholders, BlackRock plays a pivotal role in safeguarding investor interests through direct engagement within corporate governance structures and seeking board representatives to serve on committees that may potentially shape crucial investor decisions in the future. It will be intriguing to observe how their stake percentage may alter over time according to market trends.
FMR LLC boasts an impressive 77-year legacy in the securities and investment industry, having been founded in 1946. Committed to delivering outstanding financial solutions and services to people, businesses, institutions, and governments around the globe, they own Fidelity Investments as well as multiple ETFs and mutual funds such as FDGRX. As of April 2023, FMR LLC owned 13,684,685 Alphabet Inc. class A shares, representing 4.57% of total class A shares outstanding, making them one of the largest institutional shareholders of Alphabet Inc.
The company boasts an expansive portfolio of investments, with a portfolio currently worth over $1 trillion and an AUM valued at around $4.5 trillion. Investment portfolios are further complicated by investing through various funds like FDGRX, where holdings may differ substantially from one fund to the next. Despite this apparent complexity, the company has seen consistently successful returns in all market types — bullish or bearish —, since their investments during multiple economic downturns over the past decade have yielded impressive results.
Google LLC is clearly an influential corporate entity that has reshaped the global technology industry. It is no surprise then that it is still owned by a variety of individuals and institutions, most notably Alphabet Inc., its parent company.
This ownership structure allows for decision-making power to be spread out among different stakeholders like Sergey Brin and Larry Page, two of the original co-founders of Google, as well as large corporations like The Vanguard Group and BlackRock, which have invested heavily in Alphabet and Google LLC, respectively. While there may not be one single individual or group who completely “owns” Google, its various owners can rest assured knowing that they are helping support one of the world’s largest tech companies with their investments.
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