Its billionaire co-founder Sergey Brin has for years shown little interest in politics. The few times he has been involved have been in support of progressive causes, such as donations to a same-sex marriage campaign in California in 2008 and support for the re-election of President Barack Obama in 2012.
In addition, he had called his 2016 election “deeply offensive,” participated in a protest against the ban on immigrants from several predominantly Muslim countries, and in 2021 had discreetly launched a nonprofit that has spent at least $88 million on climate and environmental policies.
But now, like many other tycoons from the traditionally liberal stronghold of Silicon Valley, the 52-year-old has shifted to Trump’s side and, indeed, with intense political activity.
Battle against the billionaire tax
Brin’s frustration with California, where he lived until recently, and the effort being made in the state to tax billionaires more, is believed to have been the trigger for him to become politically active.
He told the New York Times that he strongly opposes California’s proposed one-time 5 percent wealth tax (and has spent $57 million fighting it) because he fears it will lead the state down a similar socialist path to that of the former Soviet Union, which his family left when he was 6 years old.
“I fled socialism with my family in 1979 and know the destructive, oppressive society it created in the Soviet Union. I don’t want California to end up in the same place,” he said.
The proposed regulation applies to Californians worth more than $1.1 billion and has already sparked a backlash among the ultra-wealthy, with some — including Brin — even opting to relocate out of state.
At the same time, supporters of the measure appear particularly energetic: according to an announcement from the related initiative, about 1.6 million signatures have been collected — almost double the required 875,000 — for the proposal to be put to a referendum in November.
Behind the scenes, Brin has taken an active role in coordinating the billionaires’ response. Since the end of last year, it has started mobilizing powerful Silicon Valley financial actors. As the NYTimes reports, he personally contacted several of them, asked associates to develop strategies to prevent the measure and proceeded to create two non-profit organizations to promote his agenda.
At the same time, he engaged in an intensive round of contacts with politicians and consultants, learned in-depth about the signature collection process in California and participated in meetings and campaign briefings.
But his financial contribution played a decisive role: in just four months, he invested $57 million in one of the main organizations opposing the measure, Building a Better California.
He has stated that California, once a “place of freedom and innovation in thought,” now appears to be “moving away from its ideological roots.”
The influence of his partner
According to the New York Times, Brin’s political conversion coincided with his relationship with Guerlain Gilbert-Soto, which began in 2023.
The 32-year-old, also known as GG, describes herself as a “holistic health consultant” and “clean eating advocate.” At the same time, however, she is projected as an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, with her devotion impressing even members of the US president’s entourage, as noted by the American newspaper.
Among other things, she has appeared in accessories bearing the slogan “MAGA”, has called Trump “her bestie”, and he himself has described her as “a really great MAGA partner” of Brin.
She has accompanied Brin to a series of meetings with prominent figures in the MAGA movement, such as conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro, as well as meetings with Trump himself, both at Mar-a-Lago and at the White House.
Support a Republican candidate for governor
The billionaire has also attempted to play a role in shaping the political landscape ahead of California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom’s succession.
Last March, he donated $1 million to a committee supporting San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a moderate Democrat. But when Mahan later traveled to Lake Tahoe for dinner with Brin and Gilbert-Soto in an attempt to strengthen their relationship, he failed to secure further financial support.
That relationship appears to have cooled after Mahan’s participation in the “No Kings” protests in late March against Trump’s policies, which prompted Gilbert-Soto’s intense public criticism on social media. “It’s woke and it sucks,” he wrote, among other things, in X.
She herself has come out in favor of Steve Hilton, the Republican candidate and former Fox News host. Brin has already contributed about $40,000 to his campaign, confirming his gradual shift toward the conservative political camp.
