Sergey Brin (born August 21, 1973, in Moscow, Russia) is an American computer scientist, entrepreneur, and cofounder of Google, one of the most influential and widely used search engines in the world.
Brin moved to the United States with his family in 1979. He later earned degrees in computer science and mathematics from the University of Maryland in 1993 before entering the graduate program at Stanford University. There, he met fellow student Larry Page, and the two became deeply interested in improving how information could be organized and understood on the rapidly expanding Internet.
Working from Page’s dorm room, Brin helped develop a revolutionary search algorithm that ranked web pages based on their “backlinks”—the number of other sites linking to them. This concept became the foundation of Google’s search technology. Brin earned his master’s degree in 1995 and then paused his Ph.D. studies to continue developing the project.
In 1998, Brin and Page secured roughly $1 million in seed funding from investors, family, and friends, officially launching Google Inc. The name “Google” originated from a misspelling of “googol,” referring to the large number 1 followed by 100 zeros. Brin became president of technology, and by 1999 the search engine handled around 500,000 queries per day. With continued growth and additional investment, Google issued its IPO in 2004, earning Brin an estimated $3.8 billion.
Google expanded significantly under Brin’s leadership, acquiring YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion—marking a major step in broadening the company’s services beyond search. That same year, Google faced criticism for complying with Chinese censorship laws, a decision Brin defended as enabling access to at least some information rather than none.
In 2011, Brin transitioned from president of technology to director of special projects, focusing on innovative initiatives like Google Glass and other experimental technologies. When Google reorganized under the new parent company Alphabet Inc. in 2015, Brin became Alphabet’s president. He stepped down from the role in December 2019 but continues to serve on Alphabet’s board of directors.