Sergey Brin just moved up to number three on the global wealth rankings, overtaking both Jeff Bezos and Larry Ellison. The Google co-founder’s net worth jumped by $4.9 billion to hit $255.6 billion, according to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List.
That puts him behind only his fellow Google co-founder Larry Page at $277 billion and Tesla’s Elon Musk, who’s still way out front at $725.3 billion. Amazon’s Bezos now sits at $253.2 billion, while Oracle’s Ellison is at $251.3 billion.
The timing of Brin’s leap isn’t random. It came right after Google’s parent company Alphabet became the fourth company ever to hit a $4 trillion market valuation this week, joining Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple in that exclusive club.
The Apple-Google Deal That Changed Everything
What really drove the spike? Earlier this week, Apple announced a partnership with Google to use Gemini as the foundation for its AI models and power the next generation of Siri. That announcement sent Alphabet’s stock up 1.3% to just over $337 billion on Tuesday.
But the broader story is bigger than one deal. Alphabet’s stock has surged 65% in 2025 alone—the company’s best year since 2009, when shares jumped nearly 93%. Most of that growth has been fueled by Google’s aggressive push into AI.
Over the past year, the company rolled out multiple versions of its Gemini models, with Gemini 3 dropping in November. They also unveiled Ironwood, the seventh generation of their AI chips, taking a swing at Nvidia’s dominance in that space.
What Apple and Google Said About the Partnership
The two companies put out a joint statement that’s worth reading closely:
“Apple and Google have entered into a multi-year collaboration under which the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology. These models will help power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalized Siri coming this year.”
Apple added that after careful evaluation, they determined Google’s AI technology “provides the most capable foundation” for what they’re building. They emphasized that Apple Intelligence will still run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute while maintaining their privacy standards—a key selling point for a company that’s made privacy a core part of its brand.
Why This Matters Beyond Brin’s Bank Account
The Apple deal is a pretty clear signal that Google’s catching up in the AI race after what looked like a rough start. When ChatGPT exploded onto the scene, it felt like OpenAI had caught Google flat-footed. The search giant seemed slow to respond, and there were real questions about whether they’d ceded the AI lead permanently.
This partnership suggests otherwise. If Apple—one of the most selective companies on the planet when it comes to technology partnerships—chose Google over OpenAI or anyone else, that says something about where Google’s AI capabilities actually stand.
It’s also a validation of the billions Google’s been pouring into AI infrastructure and model development. Those investments are starting to translate into real commercial wins, not just research papers and demos.
For Brin personally, the wealth increase is almost beside the point at this scale. When you’re already worth a quarter trillion dollars, an extra few billion doesn’t change your lifestyle. But it does reflect how the market views Google’s positioning heading into what’s shaping up to be the most important technology shift in decades.
Whether Google can maintain this momentum against OpenAI, Anthropic, and everyone else piling into AI is still an open question. But right now, at least, the market’s betting they can—and Brin’s net worth is moving accordingly.
