Larry Page

Early Life

Lawrence Edward Page was born on 26 March 1973 in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. His father was a professor of computer science at Michigan State University, and he grew up in a household where computing was part of daily life. He graduated from East Lansing High School in 1991 and studied computer engineering at the University of Michigan, earning his degree in 1995.

Education

Page earned a bachelor's degree in computer engineering with honours from the University of Michigan in 1995 and a master's degree in computer science from Stanford University in 1998. He began a doctorate in computer science at Stanford but did not complete it, leaving to build Google.

Career

Page earned a degree in computer engineering from the University of Michigan in 1995 and entered the computer science doctorate programme at Stanford University, where he met Sergey Brin. Working from Page's dormitory room, they built a search project first called BackRub, based on PageRank, and published their design in the paper 'The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine' in 1998. In September 1998 they founded Google Inc., with Page as chief executive. Eric Schmidt succeeded him as chief executive in 2001, and Page returned as chief executive in April 2011. In August 2015 Page reorganised the company into the holding company Alphabet, with Google as its largest part, and became Alphabet's chief executive while Sundar Pichai took charge of Google. In December 2019 Page and Brin stepped back from their executive roles, and Pichai became chief executive of Alphabet as well. Page remains a co-founder, board member and controlling shareholder of Alphabet as of November 2026.

Achievements

Page's central achievement is Google. With Sergey Brin he devised PageRank, a way of ranking web pages by the number and importance of the links pointing to them, an idea drawn from the way academic papers are cited. The two turned it into the Google search engine, founded the company in September 1998, and built it into one of the world's largest technology companies. Page served as Google's chief executive from its founding until 2001 and again from 2011 to 2015. In 2015 he reorganised the company under a new parent, Alphabet, and served as Alphabet's chief executive until December 2019. In 2004 he and Brin received the Marconi Prize for PageRank.

• With Sergey Brin, created the PageRank algorithm, which ranked web pages by the links pointing to them and became the basis of Google Search
• Co-founded Google in September 1998 and served as its chief executive from its founding until 2001 and again from 2011 to 2015
• Created Alphabet in 2015 as Google's parent company and served as its chief executive until December 2019
• Received the Marconi Prize in 2004 with Sergey Brin for the PageRank algorithm
• Built Google from a Stanford research project into one of the world's largest technology companies

Legacy

Page is remembered as the co-creator of the search engine that organised the web. PageRank turned the web's own link structure into a measure of relevance, and Google's success made search the front door to the internet and advertising its business model. His later career was defined by scale: the creation of Alphabet to hold Google alongside other ventures, and his withdrawal from day-to-day management in 2019 while keeping control through the founders' voting shares. Because he is a living person whose company and public roles change frequently, this profile records only documented milestones and will need regular updating from reliable sources.

Contributions

Page's contribution was to treat the web as a graph of linked pages and to rank those pages by their links, an approach that made search results far more useful than the keyword lists that came before. Google's engineering culture, its advertising business and its expansion into maps, video, mobile and cloud all grew from that search foundation.

Notable Works

• PageRank algorithm (co-creator)
• Google (co-founder, 1998)
• Alphabet Inc. (co-founder, 2015)
• The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine (1998, with Sergey Brin)

Milestones

• 1973 — Born on 26 March in East Lansing, Michigan, United States Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica
• 1995 — Earned a degree in computer engineering from the University of Michigan and entered Stanford, where he met Sergey Brin Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica
• 1998 — Founded Google Inc. with Sergey Brin, with Page as chief executive Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica
• 2001 — Eric Schmidt succeeded Page as chief executive of Google Source: Wikipedia (Larry Page)
• 2004 — Received the Marconi Prize with Sergey Brin for PageRank Source: Wikipedia (Larry Page)
• 2011 — Returned as chief executive of Google Source: Wikipedia (Larry Page)
• 2015 — Created Alphabet as Google's parent company and became its chief executive Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica; Wikipedia (Larry Page)
• 2019 — Stepped back as Alphabet chief executive; Sundar Pichai took over Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica; Wikipedia (Larry Page)

Timeline

1. 26 March 1973

   Born in East Lansing, Michigan, United States; sources differ on the birthplace (see fact note)

   Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica; Wikipedia (Larry Page)
2. 1995

   Earned a degree in computer engineering from the University of Michigan and entered Stanford University's computer science doctorate programme, where he met Sergey Brin

   Year only — exact date unknown Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica
3. 1998

   Published 'The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine' with Sergey Brin and founded Google Inc. in September, with Page as chief executive

   Year only — exact date unknown Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica; Wikipedia (Larry Page)
4. 2001

   Eric Schmidt succeeded Page as chief executive of Google

   Year only — exact date unknown Source: Wikipedia (Larry Page)
5. 2004

   Received the Marconi Prize with Sergey Brin for PageRank

   Year only — exact date unknown Source: Wikipedia (Larry Page)
6. 2011-04

   Returned as chief executive of Google

   Approximate date Source: Wikipedia (Larry Page)
7. 2015-08

   Created Alphabet as Google's parent company and became its chief executive; Sundar Pichai took charge of Google

   Approximate date Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica; Wikipedia (Larry Page)
8. 2019-12

   Stepped back from the chief executive role at Alphabet with Sergey Brin; Sundar Pichai became chief executive of Alphabet

   Approximate date Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica; Wikipedia (Larry Page)

Related Personalities

• Sergey Brin Computer scientist and entrepreneur · b. 1973
• Sundar Pichai Technology executive · b. 1972
• Mark Zuckerberg Technology executive · b. 1984
• Elon Musk Entrepreneur · b. 1971

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources & References

1. Larry Page — Encyclopaedia Britannica — Encyclopaedia Britannica (accessed 12 November 2026)
2. Larry Page — Wikipedia (cross-check) — Wikipedia (accessed 12 November 2026)
3. Larry Page — Encyclopaedia Britannica (print article) — Encyclopaedia Britannica (accessed 12 November 2026)
4. File:Larry Page in the European Parliament, 17.06.2009 (cropped).jpg — Wikimedia Commons (portrait file page) — Wikimedia Commons (accessed 12 November 2026)

Explore More

• More Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders
• Personalities from United States
• More computer scientist and entrepreneurs
• More computer scientists
• More entrepreneurs
• More business executives
• Famous people born in March
• Browse all personalities

Featured on these lists:

• Famous Entrepreneurs