Google Founders Make Forbes List of Billionaires

Tech titans once again dominated the list of Californians on the annual Forbes List of Billionaires. Coming in at numbers 19 and 20—Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Page’s net worth as of Mar. 3, 2015 is $30.7 billion. Forbes notes, “Google CEO Larry Page runs what is arguably the most influential company of the digital era… Besides dominating in online search, with a 65% share of the global market, there are now more than a billion active devices using its Android operating system, one for every seven people. Page oversaw a string of acquisitions in 2014, including programmable home thermostat maker Nest for $3.2 billion and video monitoring outfit Dropcam for $555 million. In October 2014, he transferred most of his daily responsibilities to Sundar Pichai so he could focus on longer-term strategy.”

Brin’s net worth on Mar. 3, 2015 is $30.1 billion. Forbes Describes his role, “Google cofounder Sergey Brin runs Google X, the secretive division of the search engine company that focuses on risky projects, such as smart contact lenses, airborne wind turbines and the ill-fated Google Glass… Google has 40,000 employees in 40 countries and still dominates online search, with a 65% share of the global market.”

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Silicon Valley Tech Titans who made the Top 20:

5. Larry Ellison

16. Mark Zuckerberg

19. Larry Page

20. Sergey Brin

The magazine says there are now 1,826 billionaires worldwide with a combined net worth of $7.05 trillion, up from $6.4 trillion a year ago.

There aren’t any surprises at the top of the Americans on the billionaire heap: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett and Oracle’s Larry Ellison are the leaders.

Forbes, which has been compiling the list since 1986, says the rankings show entrepreneurship is alive and well: 1,191 members of the list are self-made billionaires, while only 230 inherited their fortunes.

--Deb Belt (Patch Staff) contributed to this story