Larry Page leaves California to protect $12.5 billion from proposed wealth tax

Larry Page, the co-founder of Google and the world’s second-richest person, has cut his business and residency ties with California to avoid a billionaire wealth tax. A proposed ballot measure in the state would see billionaires be taxed 5% of their wealth if they have more than $1 billion.

Page’s move is preemptive as the tax has not been approved yet. A decision is due to be made in November 2026, but if enacted, it would be retroactive to January 1, 2026. Had Page been hit by the tax, he would have had to pay $12.5 billion, based on his $250 billion net worth.

The co-founder has converted his entities out of California as of late December 2025 to meet the effective date of the potential new tax law. His family office, Koop, and several funding vehicles (Flu Lab, One Aero, and Dynatomics) have been converted to Delaware to benefit from favourable tax laws and privacy rules. Meanwhile, new principal addresses have been established in Florida, Nevada, and Texas.

Larry Page also moved entities that he used to buy islands in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Fiji to Delaware. A source that spoke to Business Insider said the Google co-founder has physically left the state, but it’s not clear if that move is permanent.

Despite several billionaires, including Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, calling for more taxes on the rich, the proposed wealth tax in California is facing significant opposition from tech and political figures who warn of capital flight and an innovation exodus. One critic is Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, who said that the state would lose its most important taxpayers and end up worse off.

Unless states and countries can come up with a unified wealth tax of some sort, capital flight is always a big risk. People with a lot of money have more means to just get up and go, and as the case here shows, they do.