Google's Billionaire Founders Are Leaving California Behind

Larry Page and Sergey Brin created one of the most influential companies of all time 27 years ago in a garage in California.

For nearly three decades, Larry Page and Sergey Brin embodied the California dream. They arrived as graduate students at Stanford in 1995, founded Google in a Menlo Park garage in 1998, and built one of the most valuable companies on earth.

Now, in a move that signals a dramatic shift in the relationship between California and its wealthiest residents, both founders are quietly packing up -- without any farewell speech.

The Great Migration

In late 2025, something unusual started happening in California's business registries. Sergey Brin terminated or relocated approximately 15 California limited liability companies, converting seven of them to Nevada entities. These weren't just random business vehicles—they included the companies managing his superyacht and his private terminal at San Jose International Airport.

Larry Page went even further, inactivating or relocating more than 45 LLCs out of California, converting his family office and other entities to Delaware. He also purchased $71.9 million in waterfront property in Miami, Florida—a clear signal of where his future lies.

These moves weren't coincidental. They happened as California voters prepared to consider one of the most aggressive wealth tax proposals in American history.

The $100 Billion Question

The California Billionaire Tax Act, slated for the November 2026 ballot, is straightforward in concept but staggering in scope. It would impose a one-time 5% tax on every California resident worth more than $1 billion, with residency determined as of January 1, 2026.

The tax targets roughly 200 people who collectively hold an estimated $2 trillion in wealth. Revenue projections suggest it could raise tens of billions of dollars, with 90% earmarked for healthcare and 10% for K-14 education and food assistance.

For Page and Brin, the stakes are enormous. With Page's net worth hovering around $269-284 billion and Brin's at $258-264 billion as of January 2026, their combined wealth exceeds $500 billion. A 5% tax could theoretically cost them more than $25 billion combined—even if paid over several years.

Why California Needs the Money

California's financial structure makes it uniquely vulnerable to the decisions of its wealthiest residents. Personal income tax constitutes more than two-thirds of the state's General Fund, and the top 1% of earners contribute approximately 38-46% of total income tax receipts.

This creates a feast-or-famine dynamic. When the stock market booms and tech billionaires cash out shares, California's coffers overflow. When markets decline or when the ultra-wealthy relocate, the state faces sudden budget shortfalls.

The Billionaire Tax Act emerged partly in response to expected federal healthcare funding cuts. Supporters argue the state needs a one-time infusion to prevent the collapse of critical services and the loss of healthcare jobs.

Where Nevada and Florida come

The destinations matter as much as the departure. Nevada and Florida aren't just sunnier alternatives—they're engineered for exactly this moment in tax policy.

Both states impose no personal income tax, no state-level wealth taxes, and no estate taxes. For someone like Brin, moving his superyacht management company to Nevada doesn't change where the yacht docks—it changes how future investment income and capital gains are taxed.

For Page, establishing residency in Florida could save billions in future tax liability, not just from this proposed wealth tax, but from all future income, capital gains, and estate taxes.

The Bezos Blueprint

If this sounds familiar, it should. In 2023, Jeff Bezos moved from Washington State to Florida shortly after Washington implemented a 7% capital gains tax. His subsequent stock sales saved him over $600 million in state taxes—a billion-dollar lesson in the mobility of modern wealth.

The Bezos move wasn't just about one billionaire's tax bill. It represented a significant loss of expected revenue for Washington State, demonstrating that tax policy designed for the ultra-wealthy can backfire when those taxpayers have the resources and motivation to simply leave.

What California Keeps (And What It Loses)

There's an important distinction to understand: Google itself isn't going anywhere. Alphabet remains a California corporation with tens of thousands of employees, sprawling campuses, and ongoing tax obligations to the state. California will continue collecting corporate taxes, payroll taxes, and all the revenue associated with Google's massive operations.

What's moving is personal exposure—the future capital gains when these founders sell stock, the investment income from their other ventures, and the estate taxes that would eventually come due when they pass away. These are the taxes that run into the billions, and they're precisely what California stands to lose.

The Price of the Paradise

For decades, California sold a compelling story: come here, build something revolutionary, get rich, and stay because leaving would mean abandoning the cultural capital that made you matter in the first place.

That story assumed wealth and prestige were inseparable from place. But in an age where business can be conducted from anywhere, where legal residency can be established with property purchases and entity filings, and where the difference between staying and leaving can amount to billions of dollars, the old assumptions no longer hold.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin spent nearly 30 years as the perfect ambassadors for California's promise. Their quiet retreat isn't just about two billionaires and a tax bill. It's a signal that even the deepest roots can be pulled up when the financial calculus becomes impossible to ignore.

The question California now faces is whether it can fund essential services without the very people whose success the state helped create—and whether other states will continue building their futures on the tax revenue California is losing, one billionaire at a time.