BILLIONAIRE SUCCESS STORY: Sergey Brin - Google

Born: August 21, 1973 - Moscow, Soviet Union
Age: 35
Country Of Citizenship: United States
Residence: Palo Alto, California , United States, North America
Occupation: Co-founder and President of Technology of Google
Salary: USD 43,726 (2005)
Net worth: USD 18.5 billion
Fortune: self made
Source: Google
Industry: Technology
Marital Status: Married
Spouse: Anne Wojcicki
Education: University of Maryland, Bachelor of Arts / Science Stanford University, Master of Science
Website: stanford.edu/~sergey/
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Sergey Mihailovich Brin is the cofounder of Google, and is now the President of Technology at Google and has a net worth estimated at 11 billion US dollars.

Born 1973 in Russia to a Jewish mathematician and economist. In 1979 Brin Moved to America with his family where his father worked as a professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland, and his mother working as a specialist at NASA. Brin had an interest in computers from an early age, and he received his first computer, a Commodore 64, from his father for his 9th birthday.

Sergey's natural talent for mathematics and computing was soon apparent, surprising a teacher by submitting a project printed from the computer, at a time before computers were commonplace. Brin also gives credit for his success to having attended Montessori schools. In 1990, after he finished high school, Brin enrolled in the University of Maryland to study Computer Science and Mathematics, receiving his Bachelors of Science in 1993 with high honors. After graduating he received a graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation, which he used to study a masters degree in Computer Science at Stanford University, and completing it ahead of schedule in august 1995.

Sergey Brin’s defining moment in his life was when he met future Co-president of Google, Larry Page. Brin was assigned to show Larry around the university. However they did not get on well in the beginning, arguing about every topic they discussed. The pair soon found a shared common interest in retrieving information from large data sets. The pair later wrote what is widely considered their seminal contribution, a paper called "The Anatomy of a Large-scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine". The paper has since become the tenth most accessed scientific paper at Stanford University.

Soon after they started working on a project that later became the Google search engine. After trying to sell the idea failed, they wrote up a business plan and brought in a total initial investment of almost $1 million to start their own company. In September 1998 Google Inc. opened in Menlo Park, California. The company grew so quickly and gained so many employees’ a few office relocations were made due to lack of space, with Google Inc. finally settled in its current place at Mountain View, California. Over the next few years headed by Larry and Sergey Google made many innovations and added to its list of products and employee’s (nearly 5000 by 2006). By October 2004 Google announced their first quarterly results as a public offered company, with record revenues of $805.9 million. As of 2005 Brin has been estimated to be worth US$11 billion and is sixteenth in Forbes 400 list and ranked the 2nd richest American under the age of 40.

Despite Brin’s success, he has remained fairly unknown to the public. He is not known to live a lavish lifestyle, driving an inexpensive car and still renting a two-bedroom flat.He is also a keen gymnast taking trapeze lessons. Like many of the Google staff, he often rides around work on roller skates and plays roller hockey during breaks. Keeping ties with his cultural heritage, Brin often dines in San Francisco's many Russian restaurants.

References
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Google Executives Compensation
Forbes: The World's Billionaires: #26 Sergey Brin.
Corporate Information: Google Management
Corporate Information: Google Milestones
The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine
Anne Wojcicki Marries the Richest Bachelor
23andMe - Our Service: Genotyping Technology
Silicon Valley Wide-Eyed Over a Bride
Lawsuits Fly Over Google Founders' Big Private Plane
The 50 Most Important People on the Web
Sergey Brin Executive Profile
Wikiquote
Sergey Brin
List of scientific publications by Sergey Brin
Video of Brin giving a lecture at UC Berkeley
On the Origins of Google
Linux Journal interview
Net Café Television Interview
Fresh Air radio interview
Search Engine Watch interview
UK Channel 4 television interview with Sergey Brin
Time Magazine Podcast about Google and its founders
The Searchmeisters
Forbes.com: Fortunes That Roared In 2004
Momentmag.com: The Story of Sergey Brin