Google cofounder Larry Page overtook Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to become the world’s third-wealthiest person Wednesday, as Alphabet’s stock surged by nearly 6% in the wake of strong third quarter earnings and the release of Google’s Gemini 3 AI model.
Key Facts
- Shares of Google parent company Alphabet surged 6% in early trading Wednesday following the release of Google’s Gemini 3 AI model before easing to around 3.3% just after 2 p.m. EST.
- Page’s net worth jumped by about $7.6 billion thanks to his 3.2% stake in Alphabet, while fellow Google cofounder Sergey Brin, who owns about 2.9%, also gained $7 billion, placing them as the third and fifth wealthiest person in Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List.
- Elon Musk remains the world’s richest person by far with a fortune valued at $466.2 billion as of Wednesday, followed by Oracle chairman Larry Ellison worth $276.5 billion in second.
- Jeff Bezos sits between Page and Brin in the rankings and is worth $233.6 billion.
Big Number
102%. That’s how much Alphabet stock has climbed since its yearly low in April.
Why is Alphabet stock rallying?
Alphabet stock is up by 10% since its latest earnings call last month. The company beat investor expectations by delivering its first-ever $100 billion quarter, a 16% year over year revenue jump. Meanwhile, Google Cloud revenue rose to $15.2 billion, up 34% year over year, showing stronger enterprise adoption of its AI stack. Wall Street’s confidence in the company has also increased after Warren Buffett revealed a $4.3 billion Berkshire Hathaway stake in Alphabet, which shocked investors given Buffett’s typical hesitation toward tech companies with aggressive and steep growth trajectories, according to CNBC.
What to watch for
Alphabet’s next earnings call may focus on the success of its Gemini 3 model given the latest earnings call’s emphasis on Google Cloud’s growing momentum. Alphabet says Gemini 3 is the first model to demonstrate PhD-level academic reasoning, with a 74% improvement over its predecessor.
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This story was originally published on forbes.com.
