Episode 2816 - September 17 - Tiếng Anh - Phần 1 của 2 - Larry Page - Vina Technology at AI time - Lê Quang Văn | Podcast - Nhac.vn

The secrets of Larry Page's money man

Part 1 of 2.

Hugh Langley. Business Insider. Sep 16, 2024.

Wayne Osborne guards the Google founder's fortune. Now his playbook is for sale.

In 2014, a New York developer was in negotiations to buy two pristine islands in the Caribbean, a mile north of St. Thomas. He had made an offer of $9 million, but the deal had hit a snag. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a mysterious company based in Palo Alto, California, swooped in and snapped up both islands for $23 million.

The developer was furious. Suspecting double-dealing, he went to court to contest the sale. But there was no way to tell who was behind the sudden purchase. The buyer was hidden behind a web of limited-liability companies, a business structure that allows owners to remain shielded from view. It took months of litigation before the man behind the LLCs was revealed: Google cofounder Larry Page.

None of the documents relating to the deal mentioned Page by name. His connection was confirmed only after lawyers for the developer were able to question another man, Wayne Osborne, who has overseen Page's life and finances since 2012.

As the CEO of Koop, Page's family office, Osborne has shrouded his employer in a level of privacy that's nearly unparalleled in the modern era — keeping Page's name out of business documents, court records, and news headlines. To purchase the two islands, it came out during Osborne's deposition, Koop set up the LLC with the express aim of obscuring any link to Page. When Osborne does his job, it's almost impossible to detect that Page — or Osborne himself — was even there. "Wayne operates in the shadows," says an industry peer who knows Osborne personally.

With Osborne at the head of Page's family office — a special breed of private wealth-management firms that advise the ultrarich — the cofounder of the world's go-to search engine has become a model of inaccessibility. The world's sixth-richest man, estimated to be worth $143 billion, Page is almost never interviewed or photographed. Last year, when lawyers sought to question him about his possible business ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and child predator, investigators were unable to find an address for Page, making it difficult to subpoena him. When he flies, his private jets copy the "QS" configuration that NetJets uses on its tail numbers, to throw off suspicion that Page might be aboard. The creator of Gmail even avoids using his own product. "Instead, you speak to Wayne," says someone who has worked with both Page and Osborne.

Osborne's association with Page has given him a revered status in the world of family officers. "Everyone wants to connect with Wayne because he's connected to Larry," says one former Osborne employee. His success has also helped fuel a boom in family offices, a financial structure pioneered by J.P. Morgan and popularized by the Rockefellers. Today there are thousands of family offices globally, with the total number tripling between 2019 and 2023, according to the data provider Preqin.

Now, in a surprising move, the man who has enabled Page to live in the shadows is coming out of the shadows himself. Osborne is seeking to parlay his proximity to one of the world's most secretive tech founders into a rapidly growing side hustle. His new company, Way2B1, has developed software that essentially creates a digital version of Osborne — one that can put his trade secrets to work for other investors. Insiders say Osborne has boasted that Way2B1 is already working with more than 100 high-net-worth families, and that Morgan Stanley has signed a lucrative deal with the company giving it access to the bank's high-net-worth clients.

The goal, according to people familiar with the company, is to dominate the world of wealth management the way Page monopolized online search. "Wayne wants to create the Google of family offices," a former Way2B1 employee says. It is also closely intertwined with Koop, as some staffers have moved between the