Time to search for a lawyer: £75bn Google founder is divorcing
THE co-founder of Google – the seventh richest man in the world – has filed for divorce from his second wife after just four years of marriage.
Sergey Brin, worth an estimated £75billion, cited ‘irreconcilable differences’ as the reason for the split from lawyer and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan.
The paperwork was filed in January but has only just come to light, financial website Business Insider said, and the pair have been separated since December. Their split looks like it is being shrouded in the same secrecy as their 2018 wedding. The couple, who lived in Los Altos, California, kept their nuptials under wraps for 11 months before revealing it in October 2019.
According to Insider, Mr Brin, 48, and Miss Shanahan, 37, are intent on keeping details of their divorce hidden from the public. They have a daughter, born in 2018, and have applied for joint custody. Part of the reason they are fighting to keep the details secret is out of fear that their daughter will be at risk of ‘harassment’ or ‘kidnapping’, they say.
Business Insider said they are paying for a private judge to oversee proceedings, for around £800 an hour. Mr Brin stepped down as president of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc, in 2019. None of the parties involved were available for comment.