{"id":124034,"date":"2026-01-07T19:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T19:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/124034\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T19:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T19:46:07","slug":"google-cofounder-larry-page-is-cutting-ties-in-california-ahead-of-proposed-billionaire-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/124034\/","title":{"rendered":"Google cofounder Larry Page is cutting ties in California ahead of proposed billionaire tax"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google<\/a> cofounder Larry Page appears ready to bid farewell to the state where he established his tech giant and much of his wealth.<\/p>\n

Page is converting several of his assets out of California, according to filings reviewed by Fortune, cutting ties with the state following the proposal of a wealth tax that would impact California\u2019s roughly 200 billionaires. While some billionaires have started fleeing the Golden State, others appear unbothered, like Nvidia<\/a> CEO Jensen Huang, who says he doesn\u2019t care about the tax.<\/p>\n

Koop, Page\u2019s family office, was converted out of California and incorporated in Delaware on Dec. 23, filings in the respective states show. Flu Lab LLC, a health care testing services company linked with Page<\/a>, as well as One Aero, reportedly Page\u2019s shell company<\/a> that has funded his ventures to develop a flying car, were likewise moved from California to Delaware. Ocean science nonprofit Oceankind, founded by Page\u2019s wife Lucy Southworth in 2018<\/a>, was also incorporated in Delaware last month, having previously been in California.<\/p>\n

These assets were converted out of California ahead of a de facto end-of-year deadline. If the ballot initiative wins approval after the November election, it will retroactively apply to California residents as of Jan. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

The proposed tax calls for California residents with more than a $1 billion net worth to pay a one-time tax equivalent to 5% of their assets. The tax can be paid over five years, and 90% of the payments would be allocated to health care spending.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By that math, Page, who is worth about $270 billion<\/a>, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, would owe the state roughly $13 billion in taxes, should the proposal pass.<\/p>\n

Though the fate of the proposal won\u2019t be decided by voters for months, Page is seemingly not taking any chances. The Google co-founder has reportedly already left the state, an anonymous source told Business Insider, which also first reported<\/a> Page converting his businesses out of California. The New York Times reported<\/a> last month that Page, as well as billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, were considering leaving California by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n

Fortune could not reach Page for comment.<\/p>\n

Billionaires\u2019 great escape from California<\/p>\n

Many tech leaders have made their opinions about California\u2019s proposed wealth tax clear, arguing the initiative would exacerbate the trend of the ultra-wealthy leaving the state for destinations with fewer taxes and regulations, ultimately leaving California with fewer resources. Garry Tan, CEO of tech startup accelerator Y Combinator, warned additional levies would scare off<\/a> the state\u2019s billionaires, driving capital out of California\u2014and eventually threaten innovation and support for health care services the tax is meant to support.<\/p>\n

Indeed, California\u2019s high levies, including corporate, sales and use, and franchise taxes, as well as a stricter regulatory environment, is the oft-considered reason why once-residents of Silicon Valley have shifted their business operations to other states. Elon Musk\u2019s 2020 move from California to the income-tax free Texas\u2014now the headquarters of Tesla<\/a>, SpaceX<\/a>, X<\/a>, and the Boring Company\u2014may have saved him an estimated $18 billion<\/a> in capital gains taxes. Oracle<\/a>, Hewlett Packard Enterprise<\/a>, and Charles Schwab<\/a> are among other major companies that have relocated from California to the Lone Star State. Delaware, where Page has incorporated several entities, does not require limited liability companies (LLC) owners to publicly disclose their names.<\/p>\n

But not every billionaire is in such strong opposition to the proposal. Nvidia CEO Huang, the world\u2019s ninth richest man worth $155 billion<\/a>, appears to be unbothered by it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t thought about it even once,\u201d Huang told Bloomberg Television<\/a> in an interview on Tuesday. \u201cWe chose to live in Silicon Valley, and whatever taxes I guess they would like to apply, so be it. I\u2019m perfectly fine with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Nvidia is likely increasing its Silicon Valley footprint, having reportedly finalized its first office lease<\/a> in San Francisco in November 2025, defying concerns of widespread divestment or talent loss in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work in Silicon Valley because that\u2019s where the talent pool is, and we have offices all over the world, wherever there\u2019s talent,\u201d Huang said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Google cofounder Larry Page appears ready to bid farewell to the state where he established his tech giant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9329,7,9,8,10649,57041,9560],"class_list":{"0":"post-124034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-billionaires","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-headlines","11":"tag-california-news","12":"tag-jensen-huang","13":"tag-larry-page","14":"tag-wealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}