According to Business Insider, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page moved a key LLC, T-Rex LLC, out of California on December 24, 2025, converting it to a Delaware entity called T-Rex Holdings. This was a strategic move to beat the deadline for a proposed California ballot measure that would impose a one-time 5% tax on residents with assets exceeding $1 billion. The tax, aimed at addressing a multibillion-dollar state budget deficit, would apply retroactively to anyone living in California as of January 1, 2026. This follows a similar move by Page, who converted his family office out of California in late December. Brin and Page, the world’s second and fourth-richest people with net worths over $250 billion each, were listed as managers of the LLC, which now lists a principal office in Reno, Nevada.
The Billionaire Chess Game
Here’s the thing: this isn’t just about one LLC. It’s a high-stakes game of financial chess, and the opening moves are being made right now. The proposed tax is so aggressive—retroactive to the start of the year—that it created a hard deadline. Leave by December 31, 2025, or potentially get hit. For guys like Page and Brin, a 5% tax isn’t a nuisance; it’s a bill for billions. So moving an entity, even a mysterious “management company” like T-Rex, is a logical, defensive play. It’s a signal. And the letter from high-profile attorney Alex Spiro to Governor Newsom, warning of an “exodus of capital and innovation,” makes it explicit: this is a threat the state’s ultra-wealthy are seriously considering.
More Than Just An Address Change
But what does “leaving” even mean for someone like this? California determines residency on a bunch of factors—time spent there, business dealings, you name it. Moving an LLC to Delaware (the corporate haven) and listing an address in Nevada (no state income tax) is a clear first step in untangling the knot. Page seems to be going further, shifting his family office and other venture entities. Brin, for now, keeps his foundation and other offices in California. It’s a fascinating divergence. Brin is back at Google HQ, hands-on. Page is off funding flying cars and flu research. Their physical and financial footprints are telling two different stories about their ties to the state.
The Broader Stakes For California
So what’s the real impact? Look, this is a precarious moment. The state is staring down a massive budget hole and sees a tiny group of people with unimaginable wealth as a solution. It’s politically tempting. But the risk of backfire is huge. If even a handful of these billionaires decide to formally change residency, California doesn’t just lose a one-time tax payment. It loses their ongoing income taxes, their philanthropic spending, and the gravitational pull their presence has on investment and talent. It’s a classic case of killing the goose that lays the golden egg. The tech industry, from startups to giants, is watching this closely. When the founders of one of the state’s most iconic companies start moving pieces off the board, everyone else wonders if they should be playing a different game altogether.
