[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Following Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft (MS) founder Bill Gates, Google co-founder Sergey Brin (photo) has also initiated divorce proceedings.
According to Bloomberg on the 18th (local time), Brin filed for divorce with the Santa Clara County Court in California, stating that he wants to separate from his wife Nicole Shanahan. Brin cited "irreconcilable (personality) differences" as the reason for the divorce. Brin is the world's 6th richest person with assets exceeding 120 trillion won.
The couple, in their third year of marriage, requested the court to seal the documents to keep the divorce proceedings private and hired a private judge. A private judge is part of the U.S. judicial system chosen by parties who wish to resolve disputes confidentially. Brin is reportedly seeking joint custody of their 3-year-old child. Shanahan founded ClearAccessIP, a tech company providing intellectual property (IP) patent management solutions, and operates the ViaEco charitable foundation.
Bloomberg, citing its billionaire index, reported that Brin holds assets worth $94 billion (121.73 trillion won), including Google shares, and speculated that there may be a prenuptial agreement between Shanahan and Brin regarding asset division.
This is Brin's second divorce. He married Anne Wojcicki, founder of biotechnology company 23andMe, in 2007, becoming a Silicon Valley billionaire couple, but after several years of separation, they divorced in 2015.
At that time, U.S. media reported that Brin's affair with a female Google employee was the cause of the divorce. Brin and Wojcicki have two teenage children.
Recently, divorces among billionaires have been increasing in the U.S. Bezos separated from MacKenzie Scott in 2019, and Gates finalized his divorce from ex-wife Melinda French Gates in August last year.
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