World’s 9th Richest Tycoon Google’s Sergey Brin Opens Family Office in Singapore, Joining Billionaires List

Singapore— Sergey Brin, the world-renowned Google co-founder, has made headlines by opening a family office in Singapore to manage his wealth, solidifying the city-state’s appeal to billionaires.

Mr. Sergey Brin founded Google with Larry Page in 1998 and has a net worth of US$86.5 billion (S$115 billion), making him the world’s ninth richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Singapore’s low taxes, high security, and generous incentives for family offices have consistently lured the global elite. Sergey Brin is the latest tycoon to capitalize on these advantages, which cater to the lives and wealth of the super-rich.

The list of billionaires who have relocated to Singapore includes Mr. Eduardo Saverin, one of the co-founders of social media giant Facebook.

Mr. Saverin moved to Singapore in 2009 and renounced his American citizenship two years later, avoiding an estimated S$932 million (US$700 million) in capital gains taxes in the US.

UK inventor Sir James Dyson’s company, Weybourne Group Ltd., set up a family office in 2019, a year that also saw Mr. Dyson purchase a S$78 million unit in Singapore’s tallest building, Guoco Tower. 

His net worth is an impressive S$29.4 billion (£16.2 billion).

Bridgewater Associates’ founder and hedge fund billionaire, Roy Dalio, also plans to open a family office in Singapore, as Bloomberg reported last November.

Mr. Sergey Brins California-based family office Bayshore Global Management established a branch in Singapore late last year, documents filed with regulators show.

The director of Mr. Sergey Brin’s Singapore unit is deputy chief investment officer Ms Marie Young.

According to BBC News, Mr Sergey Brin, with Google co-founder Larry Page, visited Singapore in 2016. At present, neither of the men is actively managing the search engine company, with Mr. Sundar Pichai serving as chief executive officer since 2015.

Mr. Sergey Brin was also president of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc until he stepped down in December 2019.

However, Messrs Brin and Page still possess super-voting shares that give them control of Google.

Government figures show that there are around 200 single-family offices in Singapore that manage over S$26 billion in assets.

Born in Moscow when it was part of the Soviet Union, 47-year-old Sergey Brin moved to the U.S. at age six and holds American citizenship.

Since 2018, he’s been married to Nicole Shanahan, a legal tech founder. They share a daughter, and Brin has a son and another daughter with his former wife, biotech analyst and entrepreneur Anne Wojcicki.

/TISG

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