Two of the world’s richest people got a little bit richer in the last few months when Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin sold more than $1 billion worth of stock since May, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) compiled by OpenInsider and reported by CNBC on Friday (July 30).
Brin sold more than $610 million in Class A and Class C stock, while Page has sold more than $462 million in stock since the spring. They last sold Google stock in 2017, when their previous pre-filed trading plan expired.
Page left his role as Alphabet CEO in 2019, turning the company over to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Brin’s position of Alphabet president was eliminated when he left the job at the same time. Both remain as board members and control 51 percent of Alphabet’s voting shares.
Alphabet reported record revenues in the second quarter of 2021, with company revenue up 62 percent to $62 billion. Those numbers include $7 billion in revenue for YouTube, up 84 percent from the previous 12 months.
Despite its newfound earnings power, Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler said YouTube has long been used as a shopping and learning destination, be it for unboxing videos, product reviews or makeup tutorials. But now, Schindler said, shoppers are increasingly turning to the platform for ideas and inspiration to help them decide what to buy.
“There are a number of shopping capabilities already underway, and we’re working really hard to make it easier for users to discover and buy directly on YouTube,” he said without providing further details.
The rising tide of eCommerce activity has not only lifted Google’s boat but has also raised the income and earnings of thousands of individuals whose livelihoods are made in the company’s network and ecosystem.
Google also saw the benefit of its renewed efforts to make online shopping easier to do and online advertising more affordable to pursue. Alongside its long-term investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, the company spent heavily this quarter to upgrade its Graph search results and extend the free listing feature to millions of merchants on Shopify and other platforms.
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