Before we dive into the details of who specifically owns shares in Google‘s parent company Alphabet, it‘s important to level-set on what stock ownership actually means.
When you purchase shares of a public company like Google, you are buying a small piece of ownership in that business. Shareholders don‘t directly control day-to-day decisions, but they do have a financial stake in the company‘s performance. They also get voting rights to weigh in on high-level matters.
Now you may be wondering – how much sway do everyday investors really have over a gigantic corporation like Google with a market value rapidly approaching $1 trillion? That‘s where Google‘s story takes an interesting twist…
Google Pioneers Unique Dual-Class Structure
Since its founding in 1998 by Stanford students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google has blazed remarkable trails in technological innovation from search to artificial intelligence to self-driving cars. The company also charted unconventional territory in its ownership structure.
Unlike most public companies, Google utilized a dual-class stock model with differential voting rights:
- Class A (GOOGL) – Traditional publicly traded common shares each counting 1 vote
- Class B – Restricted supervoting shares controlled by company insiders, with 10 votes per share
- Class C (GOOG) – Publicly traded, non-voting common shares for compensating employees
This approach concentrated overwhelming voting power in the hands of Google‘s founders and leadership team. It also shielded them from outside shareholder interference as the company grew.
But who exactly are the key shareholders that stand to benefit from Google‘s meteoric rise thanks to this structure?
Inside Ownership: Page & Brin Maintain Control
Despite outside investors flocking to Google stock over the years, ownership and control largely remains concentrated with the two ingenious founders.
Larry Page directly owns about 6.1 million Class A shares plus over 26 million Class B supervoting shares. Thanks to the 10x voting power of his Class B holdings, Page controls around 5.8% of the total voting power. At today‘s valuations, his shares are worth nearly $25 billion!
Fellow co-founder Sergey Brin holds a similar amount of shares – 6.1 million Class A and over 25.7 million Class B. This also sums to 5.6% of total votes, meaning Page and Brin together are firmly in the driver‘s seat when it comes to controlling Alphabet.
For context, this is much greater control than most other tech founder-CEOs like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg enjoy today at their companies. Through their supershares, Page and Brin still rule the roost.
Institutional Investors Own Majority of Regular Shares
Given their relatively modest regular Class A share holdings, Page and Brin necessarily rely on selling large amounts of these non-supervoting shares to public investors to raise capital for Google‘s growth.
Institutional investors now own over 75% of Google‘s regular Class A shares. These organizations range from massive asset manager Vanguard to retirement funds to hedge funds.
Here is a breakdown of the current top 10 institutional owners:
| Investor | Shares Held | Percent of GOOGL |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard Group | 25,544,549 | 7.47% |
| Blackrock | 23,403,987 | 6.85% |
| T Rowe Price | 15,120,056 | 4.42% |
| FMR (Fidelity) | 13,784,151 | 4.03% |
| State Street Corp | 12,392,794 | 3.62% |
Table showing top 5 institutional owners of Google (GOOGL) stock and their stakes as of February 2023 (via Nasdaq).
So while public shareholders now make up the majority of Class A ownership, their voting power is muted compared to Page, Brin and other insiders wielding supershares.
This unique structure has faced criticism from some as less democratic, but it has allowed Google to stay closely tied to its founding roots and long-term vision.
Steering the Mothership: Page & Brin in Charge
Despite its current $1 trillion empire spanning search, advertising, AI, autonomous vehicles and more, Google fundamentally still reflects the ambitions of Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Its dual-class ownership structure has ensured the two brilliant Stanford co-founders maintain decisive control over voting power and the board. This concentration bucks conventional public company governance.
However, it also allows Page and Brin to advance Google‘s interests based on their ideals rather than reacting to the short-term whims of outside shareholders. This shielded structure has empowered Google to take big, bold risks that may jeopardize immediate profits but pave the way for transformative innovation.
The company remains simultaneously publicly owned yet still steered by its two legendary founder-helmsmen. This balance helps explain how Google has managed to reshape so many facets of modern life while still retaining its bold, idealistic identity from two young computer scientists charting a new path.
So next time you use Google Search, Gmail, Google Maps or any other service running quietly in the background, remember there are two very human faces still guiding the Google mothership to boldly go where none have gone before.
