Google founder Sergey Brin and his wife of eight years, 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki, have quietly finalized their divorce, the Daily Mail is reporting .
The extremely private couple’s divorce was actually finalized in May, but news of the divorce is just now gaining attention in the media.
Brin and Wojcicki met in 1998 — back when Google was little more than a Silicon Valley startup founded mostly on hope — and got married in 2007. By that time, Google was worth billions. Anne Wojckicki had also made a fortune in the tech industry, founding biotech company 23andMe.
However, according to Vanity Fair , the Google founder and his wife had different views of what it meant to be a wealthy power couple in the tech world. Anne eschewed the trappings of the lavish lifestyles of other wives of tech billionaires, preferring instead to be a mother to her two children, and seeking a “normalized” life.
Sergey, however, chose to live the life of a rock star, relishing the wealth, fame, and attention, according to an anonymous source close to the couple.
“Instead of just being a Google founder, Sergey was suddenly awesome, a cool person, a performer — a celebrity. And he was like, ‘Wait a second — I’m doing all this cool stuff, and then I have to come home and change diapers?’ “
Some time around 2012, Sergey began an affair with a younger woman, Google Glass marketing manager Amanda Rosenberg, who was in her 20s. Anne discovered the e-mails in late 2012 or early 2013, spelling the beginning of the end for the couple’s marriage. Brin moved out, while Anne stayed home in the family’s mansion to look after the kids.
Vanity Fair would later report that divorce was the last thing Anne wanted.
“According to people who know her, she doesn’t want a divorce. Though the couple has a pre-nup, there’s more than enough money to go around, and she wouldn’t want to deal with courts and custody battles.”
Nevertheless, the couple was unable to work things out, and their divorce was finalized last month. Sources confirm that the two are living near each other in order to share custody of the couple’s children and keep both parents in the kids’ lives as much as possible.
Since terms of the divorce were not made public, it is unclear how much — if any — of the Google founder’s $30 billion fortune will go to Wojcicki.
[Image courtesy of: Getty Images / Steve Jennings ]
